The NPMHU Local 297 Executive Board has selected David Kovac to fill the unexpired term of office of Dennis Joyce, who was involuntarily reassigned to the Kansas City Missouri P&DC when the Kansas City Kansas P&DC was closed. David possesses the knowledge, experience, level headedness and fiscal responsibility necessary to fulfill the duties of the position. David works at the Kansas City Kansas Bulk Mail Center and currently serves as a Tour 3 Union Steward. He is a past Administrative Vice President and was the Kansas State Executive Board Member from 1990-1996.

FMLA COORDINATORS SOLICITING RELEASE OF MEDICAL INFORMATION TO USPS LAW DEPT.

The Postal Service, in some areas of the country, is soliciting medical releases for those employees that are required to partake in the 2nd and 3rd opinion process. In doing so, the FMLA Coordinators are requiring employees to release the “specified information” to the USPS Law Department. Specifically, the USPS is requesting access to:
 
Any and all records regarding treatment, including but not limited to, all current and past medical treatment, ailments and/or conditions;

Other: Stress, Psychological and/or Medical Disorders, Ailments, Conditions to include a copy of complete chart, progress notes & interview notes, discharge summaries, operative reports, x-ray & all imagery, laboratory tests, pathology tissue, and all diagnostic studies whether in electronic data or other format.
 
The request seems highly improper. The USPS Law Department has no reason to have access to such sensitive, private and personal medical information.  The USPS letter goes on to assert that the information sought is the “minimum necessary” to accomplish the intended purpose of the request. There is nothing minimal about the information being sought. It is the Postal Service’s customary and routine practice to request everything.

The practice is taking place in the Denver/Wyoming District and NPMHU Local 321, which represents mail handlers there, has filed a complaint with the Department of Labor, and sought assistance from Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo) and from our National Office.

Hopefully this issue will be quickly resolved. Until then, we urge every mail handler that is sent for a 2nd and/or 3rd opinion (and required to sign the referenced medical release) to file a complaint with the DOL, Wage & Hour Division.

Those that are affected and do file complaints should remind the DOL that the USPS will likely terminate their FMLA (for refusing to sign and return the medical release) asserting non-cooperation with the 2nd/3rd opinion process. They should ask for appropriate extensions until their complaint is addressed. Additional information will be posted as this situation develops.

Changes to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) took effect on January 16, 2009, just a few days before the end of the Bush Administration.  While the revised rules improve the Act as it relates to military family leave; they cut back on some of the protections previously afforded to employees.  These new rules mandate that employees provide more medical documentation and more frequent documentation about their conditions, increase the need for medical certifications, narrow the definition of a serious health condition, set additional circumstances in which the Postal Service may be able to contact an employee’s health care provider without the employee’s permission, and give the Postal Service additional means of delaying FMLA leave approvals. Here are some highlights of the new changes to the FMLA:

Light Duty:  Time an employee spends voluntarily performing ‘light duty’ work does not count toward his/her FMLA entitlement.

Waiver of Rights:  Employees may voluntarily settle or release their FMLA claims without court or Department of Labor approval, however they may not do so prospectively.

Serious Health Condition:  One of the six definitions of serious health condition involves more than three consecutive, full calendar days of incapacity plus “two visits to a health care provider.”  Under the final rule, the two visits must occur within 30 days of the beginning period of incapacity and the first visit to the health care provider must occur within seven days of the first day of incapacity.  The definition of serious health condition is also satisfied by more than three consecutive, full calendar days of incapacity plus a regimen of continuing treatment.  The final rule states the first visit to the health care provider must take place within seven days of the first day of incapacity.  Thirdly, the final rule defines ‘periodic visits’ for chronic serious health conditions as at least two visits to a health care provider per year.

Substitution of Paid Leave: The NPMHU takes the position the Postal Service cannot force mail handlers to use paid leave for FML absences.  The final rule states that any employee electing to use any type of paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave must follow the same terms and conditions of the employer’ policy that apply to other employees for the use of such leave, for instance, documentation for absences longer than three days.

Employer Notice Obligations: Employers are required to provide employees with a general notice about the FMLA; an eligibility notice; a rights and responsibilities notice; and a designation notice.  The general notice requirement can be satisfied through a poster, and either an employee handbook or upon hire.  The final rule also extends the time for employers to provide notices from two business days to five business days. 

Employee Notice: The current provision allowing employees to provide notice to the employer of the need for FMLA leave up to two full business days after an absence has been modified.  The final rule provides that an employee needing FMLA leave must follow the employer’s usual and customary call-in procedures for reporting an absence, absent unusual circumstances.  Do you see a problem here?  The employer was granted additional time in which to provide notice to employees while the amount of time employees get in which to declare leave as FML was reduced?

Medical Certification Process: This is another area with disturbing changes.  The new rules allow the employer’s representative who contacts the employee’s health care provider for clarification or authentication of the medical certification to be a health care provider, human resource professional, a leave administrator, or a management official (but not the employee’s direct supervisor).  If an employee submits a complete and sufficient certification signed by a health care provider, the employer may not request additional information from the health care provider, however it may contact the health care provider for authentication and clarification purposes.  “Authentication” means providing verification the information on the certification form was completed and/or authorized by the health care provider.  No additional medical information may be requested.  “Clarification” means contacting health care provider to understand the handwriting on the medical certification or to understand the meaning of a response.  Updated DOL optional Form WH-380 allows—but does not require—health care providers to provide a diagnosis of the patient’s health condition.  If the employer deems a medical certification to be incomplete or insufficient, the employer must specify in writing what information is lacking, and give the employee seven calendar days to cure the deficiency. 

At this point in time there are more questions than answers about the revised regulations.  It is unclear whether the new Obama Administration or the new Congress will take steps to revise these regulations again.  The National Office has just begun discussions with the Postal Service about implementation issues arising from the new regulations.  We will provide more information as it becomes available.

New members are provided with a denim apron or smock when they join the Union.  Currently we have both styles in stock but the supply of smocks is diminishing.  There are no plans to purchase additional smocks when they are all gone.

Current members can receive replacement aprons or smocks when theirs becomes unusable.  Being dirty does not constitute unusable.  Members are required to turn-in their old apron in order to receive a new one.

Aprons can be purchased for $9.00.  Please pay by personal check, made payable to NPMHU Local 297.