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An
Appeal To
Reason Special Norfolk Southern New York Dock Issue Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Federation
August 2002 Major New
York Dock Arbitration Victory Won By BMWE Employees
Collecting New York Dock Entitled to Payments Even When The Average Monthly
Compensation (“Guarantee”) Is Exceeded By The Employee Decision
Is Calculated to Be Worth An Average Of $175.00 Per Month Per Employee For
Employees Who Exceed Their Monthly Guarantee On Norfolk Southern The
Pennsylvania Federation recently won a claim for one of our Norfolk Southern
members regarding the calculation of test period hours that should have far
reaching consequences for all of our members who are collecting New York Dock.
This will have a particular effect on Norfolk Southern’s campaign to
work everyone as many hours as possible because of the high monthly displacement
allowances that many of our members enjoy. Norfolk
Southern will now have to pay a penalty when working employees excessive hours
when in the past they did not have to pay a penalty. The
award, by Referee Ed Benn, held that if a displaced employee did not earn his
“monthly test period average compensation” (“AMC”) within his “monthly
test period hours” (“AMH”) Norfolk Southern owed the employee the
difference between his AMC and his actual earnings during the AMH, even if,
the employee eventually worked more hours and earned more than his AMC during
the month. In
this situation the claimant had an AMC of $3,842.80 and an AMH of 202.86.
In December 1999 he earned $4,434.32 and worked 241.5 hours to obtain
this amount. Although he earned more
than his AMC for December 1999 the
claimant calculated that by the time he worked his AMH of 202.86 he earned
$192.78 less than his $3,842.80 AMC. The
arbitrator ruled that the claimant was also entitled to $192.78 shortfall he did
not earn when he worked all of this AMH even though in that particular month he
earned more money than his AMC by working more hours.
The
arbitrator ruled as follows in this case: “Because Claimant did not
earn his average monthly compensation of $3,842.80 after working his 202.86
average monthly hours in December, 1999, as part of his displacement allowance
and in addition to what he actually earned during that month, Claimant is
entitled to the difference between $3,842.80 and what he actually earned upon
working 202.86 hours during that month – in this case, $192.78. This
award has the potential to increase the actual displacement allowances by all
employees receiving New York Dock benefits.
What follows are some examples illustrating the principle of this award.
For all of the examples, consider employee John
Example 1: John
works 150 hours and earns $1700. In
that case, the Carrier owes John $300 in displacement allowance for the month.
Example 2: John
works 130 hours and earns $2000. The
Carrier owes John nothing because he earned his AMC within his AMH.
Example 3: John
earns $1900 in the first 150 hours worked in the month.
However, John works an additional 50 hours and earns $500 during that
time for a total of $2400 earned working 200 hours.
The Carrier owes John $100 because he earned only $1900 within his AMH.
The earnings made after John worked 150 hours are his and cannot be used
by the Carrier as an offset against his displacement allowance. This
award will cause many of the monthly payments that were made on Norfolk Southern
to be recalculated because this situation speaks directly to the wage cuts that
were suffered as a result of the Norfolk Southern takeover of the Conrail
property. On the attached sheet is a
form you can use to calculate what is owed to you if you did not earn your AMC
by the time you worked your AMH in any given month. Work Sheet Calculation Norfolk
Southern Now Paying Current Claims Where Employees Do Not Obtain Their Guarantee
With Their Hours But Exceed Their Guarantee For The Month Make Sure
You Submit Your NYD Claim Even When You Exceed Your Monthly AMC
(“Guarantee”) Norfolk
Southern has programed their computers and are now able to automatically pay
members who submit their claims for the loss when the AMC is not earned in the
AMH but earned after the AMH is exceeded by the member.
Members who exceed their
monthly guarantee should now be able to submit their New York Dock claim in the
usual way and obtain this additional payment.
Make sure that you submit your claims when you exceed your monthly
guarantee to ensure that this payment is obtained. BMWE and
Norfolk Southern To Work Out Payment Method For
Claims From June 1999 to July 2002 BMWE
and Norfolk Southern are in the process of attempting
to work out the method the claims will be handled for the payments that
were not made back to June 1999. Information regarding how these claims are to
be handled should be forthcoming in about six to eight weeks.
New York Dock covered members who
have claims of this nature should put their information in a safe place and wait
until we have worked out the manner in which they will be handled. ****************************************************************************************************** Pennsylvania Federation BMWE 121 North Broad Street -
Suite 503 Philadelphia, PA 19107 |