Article 41 (In lieu of Holiday) Grievance Settled

This is PASS President Tom Brantley with a broadcast message for Wednesday, October 26, 2011.

This message is for PASS members in our Technical Operations bargaining unit.

As most of you are aware, PASS has been fighting with the FAA for a few years about the meaning and application of Article 41 of the PASS/Tech Ops contract. In particular, the dispute has been around Section 4 of the Article, which identifies how employees are treated on days in-lieu-of the holiday. A few years ago, the agency began forcing employees on holiday leave on their in-lieu-of day, rather than working at the holiday rate of pay.

Since this directly contradicts the terms of Article 41, Section 4, PASS pursued a national grievance to correct the agency’s actions. PASS was successful before an arbitrator and the agency was ordered to comply with Article 41 and to reimburse employees for pay that was lost because they were forced to observe, rather than work, their in-lieu-of holiday. The agency disagreed with the decision and in March of 2009 filed exceptions with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), primarily arguing that following the terms of the agreement, as it had for many years, was contrary to law because it interfered with management’s right to make changes based on “operational needs.”

Because of the improving relationship between PASS and the FAA, particularly in Tech Ops, we have been able to reach a comprehensive settlement agreement that resolves the Article 41 dispute and provides back pay for employees who were forced to stay home on their in-lieu-of holiday. Individual grievances previously filed by employees on this issue will automatically be considered as claims for back pay under the settlement. In addition, the settlement provides a procedure that allows any employee who did not file a grievance and who believes he/she was impacted to file a claim.

 A joint message from PASS and the FAA will be coming out very soon, providing the details and requirements for using the claim process. Please look for this message and follow the procedure to file your claim.

 This is a significant victory for PASS. I want to thank members for their patience and support as we worked to resolve this problem during the past four years. I also want to offer a special thank you to every member who took the time to file a grievance when they were impacted by the agency’s actions. It is because of your willingness to participate in the union’s effort to uphold our agreements that we were able to achieve a successful result.

Download Art 41 settlement agreement(2)