Article 13 Assignment of Ill or Injured Regular Work Force Employees

Article 13 Assignment of Ill or Injured Regular Work Force Employees

Section 13.1 Introduction

1. Part-time fixed schedule employees assigned in the craft unit shall be considered to be in a separate category. All provisions of this Article apply to part-time fixed schedule employees within their own category.
2. The U.S. Postal Service and the Union, recognizing their responsibility to aid and assist deserving full-time regular or part-time flexible employees who through illness or injury are unable to perform their regularly assigned duties, agree to the following provisions and conditions for reassignment to temporary or permanent light duty or other assignments. It will be the responsibility of each installation head to implement the provisions of this Agreement within the installation, after local negotiations.

Section 13.2 Employee's Request for Reassignment

1. Temporary Reassignment Any full-time regular or part-time flexible employee recuperating from a serious illness or injury and temporarily unable to perform the assigned duties may voluntarily submit a written request to the installation head for temporary assignment to a light duty or other assignment. The request shall be supported by a medical statement from a licensed physician or by a written statement from a licensed chiropractor stating, when possible, the anticipated duration of the convalescence period. Such employee agrees to submit to a further examination by a physician designated by the installation head if that official so requests.
2. Permanent Reassignment
1. Any ill or injured full-time regular or part-time flexible employee having a minimum of five years of postal service, or any full-time regular or part-time flexible employee who sustained injury on duty, regardless of years of service, while performing the assigned duties can submit a voluntary request for permanent reassignment to light duty or other assignment to the installation head if the employee is permanently unable to perform all or part of the assigned duties. The request shall be accompanied by a medical certificate-- from a physician designated by the installation head and made known to the Union and the employee--giving full evidence of the physical condition of the employee, the need for reassignment, and the ability of the employee to perform other duties. A certificate from the employee's personal physician will not be acceptable.
2. The following procedures are the exclusive procedures for resolving a disagreement between the employee's physician and the physician designated by the USPS concerning the medical condition of an employee who has requested a permanent light duty assignment. These procedures shall not apply to cases where the employee's medical condition arose out of an occupational illness or injury. On request of the Union, a third physician will be selected from a list of five Board Certified Specialists in the medical field for the condition in question, the list to be supplied by the local Medical Society. The physician will be selected by the alternate striking of names from the list by the Union and the Employer. The Employer will supply the selected physician with all relevant facts including job description and occupational physical requirements. The decision of the third physician will be final as to the employee's medical condition and occupational limitations, if any. Any other issues relating to the employee's entitlement to a light duty assignment shall be resolved through the grievance-arbitration procedure. The costs of the services of the third physician shall be shared by the Union and the Employer.
3. Installation heads shall show the greatest consideration for full- time regular or part-time flexible employees requiring light duty or other assignments, giving each request careful attention, and reassign such employees to the extent possible in the employee's office. When a request is refused, the installation head shall notify the concerned employee in writing, stating the reasons for the inability to reassign the employee.

Section 13.3 Local Implementation

Due to varied size installations and conditions within installations, the following important items having a direct bearing on these reassignment procedures (establishment of light duty assignments) should be determined by local negotiations.

1. Through local negotiations, each office will establish the assignments that are to be considered light duty within the office. These negotiations should explore ways and means to make adjustments in normal assignments, to convert them to light duty assignments without seriously affecting the production of the assignment.
2. Light duty assignments may be established from part-time hours, to consist of 8 hours or less in a service day and 40 hours or less in a service week. The establishment of such assignment does not guarantee any hours to a part-time flexible employee.
3. Number of Light Duty Assignments. The number of assignments within the craft that may be reserved for temporary or permanent light duty assignments, consistent with good business practices, shall be determined by past experience as to the number of reas- signments that can be expected during each year, and the method used in reserving these assignments to insure that no assigned full-time regular employee will be adversely affected, will be de- fined through local negotiations. The light duty employee's tour hours, work location and basic work week shall be those of the light duty assignment and the needs of the service, whether or not the same as for the employee's previous duty assignment.

Section 13.4 General Policy Procedures

1. Every effort shall be made to reassign the concerned employee within the employee's present craft or occupational group. After all efforts are exhausted in this area, consideration will be given to reassignment to another craft or occupational group within the same installation.
2. The full-time regular or part-time flexible employee must be able to meet the qualifications of the position to which the employee is reassigned on a permanent basis. On temporary reassignment, qualifications can be modified provided excessive hours are not used in the operation.
3. The reassignment of a full-time regular or part-time flexible employee to a temporary or permanent light duty or other assignment shall not be made to the detriment of any full-time regular on a scheduled assignment or give a reassigned part-time flexible preference over other part-time flexible employees.
4. The reassignment of a full-time regular or part-time flexible employee under the provisions of this Article to an agreed-upon light duty temporary or permanent or other assignment within the office, such as type of assignment, area of assignment, hours of duty, etc., will be the decision of the installation head who will be guided by the examining physician's report, employee's ability to reach the place of employment and ability to perform the duties involved.
5. An additional full-time regular position can be authorized within the craft or occupational group to which the employee is being reassigned, if the additional position can be established out of the part-time hours being used in that operation without increasing the overall hour usage. If this cannot be accomplished, then con- sideration will be given to reassignment to an existing vacancy.
6. The installation head shall review each light duty reassignment at least once each year, or at any time the installation head has rea- son to believe the incumbent is able to perform satisfactorily in other than the light duty assignment the employee occupies. This review is to determine the need for continuation of the employee in the light duty assignment. Such employee may be requested to submit to a medical review by a physician designated by the installation head if the installation head believes such examination to be necessary.
7. The following procedures are the exclusive procedures for resolving a disagreement between the employee's physician and the physician designated by the USPS concerning the medical condition of an employee who is on a light duty assignment. These procedures shall not apply to cases where the employee's medical condition arose out of an occupational illness or injury. On re- quest of the Union, a third physician will be selected from a list of five Board Certified Specialists in the medical field for the condition in question, the list to be supplied by the local Medical Society. The physician will be selected by the alternate striking of names from the list by the Union and the Employer. The Employer will supply the selected physician with all relevant facts including job descriptions and occupational physical requirements. The decision of the third physician will be final as to the employee's medical condition and occupational limitations, if any. Any other issues relating to the employee's entitlement to a light duty assignment shall be resolved through the grievance-arbitration procedure. The costs of the services of the third physician shall be shared by the Union and the Employer.
8. When a full-time regular employee in a temporary light duty assignment is declared recovered on medical review, the employee shall be returned to the employee's former duty assignment, if it has not been discontinued. If such former regular assignment has been discontinued, the employee becomes an unassigned full- time regular employee.
9. If a full-time regular employee is reassigned in another craft for permanent light duty and later is declared recovered, on medical review, the employee shall be returned to the first available full- time regular vacancy in complement in the employee's former craft. Pending return to such former craft, the employee shall be an unassigned full-time regular employee. The employee's seniority shall be restored to include service in the light duty assignment.
10. When a full-time regular employee who has been awarded a permanent light duty assignment within the employee's own craft is declared recovered, on medical review, the employee shall be- come an unassigned full-time regular employee.
11. When a part-time flexible on temporary light duty is declared re- covered, the employee's detail to light duty shall be terminated.
12. When a part-time flexible who has been reassigned in another craft on permanent light duty is declared recovered, such assignment to light duty shall be terminated. Section 4I, above, does not apply even though the employee has advanced to full-time regular while on light duty.

Section 13.5 Filling Vacancies Due to Reassignment of an Employee to Another Craft

When it is necessary to permanently reassign an ill or injured full-time regular or part-time flexible employee who is unable to perform the regularly assigned duties, from one craft to another craft within the office, the following procedures will be followed:

1. When the reassigned employee is a full-time regular employee, the resulting full-time regular vacancy in the complement, not necessarily in the particular duty assignment of the losing craft from which the employee is being reassigned, shall be posted to give the senior of the full-time regular employees in the gaining craft the opportunity to be reassigned to the vacancy, if desired.
2. If no full-time regular employee accepts the opportunity to be as- signed to the vacancy in the complement, not necessarily in the particular duty assignment in the other craft, the senior of the part- time flexibles on the opposite roll who wishes to accept the vacancy shall be assigned to the full-time regular vacancy in the complement of the craft of the reassigned employee.
3. When the reassigned employee is a part-time flexible, the resulting vacancy in the losing craft shall be posted to give the senior of the full-time regular or part-time flexible employees in the gaining craft the opportunity to be assigned to the part-time flexible vacancy, if desired, to begin a new period of seniority at the foot of the part-time flexible roll.
4. The rule in 5A and 5B, above, applies when a full-time regular employee on permanent light duty is declared recovered and is returned to the employee's former craft, to give the senior of the full-time regular or part-time flexible employees in the gaining craft the opportunity, if desired, to be assigned in the resulting full-time regular vacancy in the complement, not necessarily in the particular duty assignment of the losing craft.

Section 13.6 Seniority of an Employee Assigned to Another Craft

1. Except as provided for in Section 4I, above, a full-time regular employee assigned to another craft or occupational group in the same or lower level in the same installation shall take the seniority for preferred tours and assignments, whichever is the lesser of (a) one day junior to the junior full-time regular employee in the craft or occupational group, (b) retain the seniority the employee had in the employee's former craft.
2. A part-time flexible employee who is permanently assigned to a full-time regular or part-time flexible assignment in another craft, under the provisions of this Article, shall begin a new period of seniority. If assigned as a part-time flexible, it shall be at the foot of the part-time flexible roll.

Section 13.7 Notice

Employees will be given at least 24 hours notice before appearance is required before an Accident Review Board. Union representation will be permitted at all discussions of accidents upon request of the employee, provided that the acquiring of such representation does not unreasonably delay the scheduled discussion.