Revised Schedules

A revised schedule is a temporary schedule change for personal convenience.

You may request a change in starting and/or ending time, a change in your day off, and a change in your lunch period whether it is longer than ½ hour or waived altogether.

Understand, this is a request and not an entitlement.

There are no stipulations whatsoever for a revised schedule.

Supervisors have on occasion erroneously stated the following:

that you can not revise your schedule more than ½ hour early

that you have to revise your schedule with your replacement carrier or someone on your swing

that you have to take a lunch

that you can no longer revise your schedule

that no one is allowed to revise their schedule

that the Union won't allow you to revise your schedule

The list could go on; but, I think you got the general message I am attempting to convey.

Again, there are no stipulations whatsoever for a revised schedule.

A few facts:

It is management who either grants or denies your request – not the Union.

Your signature is required for the request so that if the request is approved, you will not be entitled to the payment of an out of schedule premium for the time worked outside of and instead of your regular schedule.

A steward's signature is required as an acknowledgment and as an agreement with the request.

Please understand that a steward's agreement to this request is not an automatic - though I can only remember once or twice in 24 years that this ever became an issue where the Union refused to concur.

A request for a revised schedule should be a request that is out of the ordinary and of a non-reoccurring nature.

The premise of a revised schedule is not to work overtime – whether it is voluntary or involuntary.

A revised schedule is actually a tri-party agreement – a contract – to insure that what is agreed upon is honored. There is to be no exception barring aside an emergency ... and that doesn't mean excessive sick calls, etc.

There should be no disparate treatment.

There may be sound operational reasons why a request for a revised schedule may be denied. Some requests may not be practical.

Management cannot make a blanket policy to deny revised schedules.

10. Management has the final say on whether a request is approved or  

   disapproved.

11. The Union decides whether the denial is reasonable or not and if the 

   denial is without malice or ill intent.

12. It is the Union who protects your rights.

13. It is the Union who files a grievance on your behalf ... when it appears

   that your rights have been violated.

In addition, a revised schedule may sometimes have an adverse effect on fellow carriers and on the operation.

For example:

If a carrier on the overtime desired list (ODL) revises his or her schedule, he or she in essence guarantees themselves to work only 8 hours for that day.

When there are many revised schedules, the pool of overtime carriers to draw from lessens.

This means that those carriers on the ODL that are not on a revised schedule will most likely not have an option to refuse ... and will probably be maximized that day.

A carrier that requests a revised schedule every Saturday and is approved works 8 hours while other carriers on the ODL will most likely have to work overtime on another route.

By abusing this privilege, a carrier can select what day may be his/her 8 hour day and can creatively assure themselves of catch-me-up overtime on their non-scheduled day off.

If unchecked, a carrier may be able to insure many more 8 hour opportunities while other carriers on the ODL list will have to piece meal the overtime with daily opportunities.

It is a mistaken belief that those carriers not on an overtime desired list who revise their schedule have no impact on the operation or on fellow carriers.

The fact of the matter is that carriers who are on no overtime list and revise their schedule have less of an adverse impact than those on the ODL.

Carriers that are not on the ODL may revise to an earlier start time.

They may have to wait for mail and have to pivot ... or could be used for a pivot and is not.

The Non-ODL revised carrier may also create a problem by having to receive assistance because they are guaranteed to only work 8 hours of work on the revised schedule and that the waiting for mail has put them beyond their 8 hour revised return time.

As you can see, the Non-ODL carrier has less of a negative impact but still may pose a problem for both management and their fellow carriers.

Again, the carrier on the ODL will have to provide the assistance and work the overtime in most situations.

There are many other scenarios and situations that may arise in addition to the above.

Revised schedule requests, approvals, and denials should be looked at on a case by case basis.

Please note that the above was written and posted several years ago when revised schedules were an issue.

To update and clarify the revised schedule, if you request to take a

“no lunch” you will not be entitled to work overtime nor will you be entitled to out-of- schedule pay.

Joseph R. Palmerson, President

NALC Branch 2128 Toms River

April 16, 2009