The Easiest Way to Lose Your Job!
Listen, you all know that we are here to protect your rights under the contract to the letter of the law, but there are some things that we just have difficulty overcoming. Insubordination and attendance issues are difficult to represent and even harder to defend. I’ve always said the easiest way to lose your job is to not come to work. Over the years, things have changed including the addition of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This Act offers you the protection, against discipline that can keep you gainfully employed. The write ups that include FMLA covered days are easily won by the Union. However, those of you, and you know that I always lay it right out there, who utilize most if not all your sick leave just because, are putting yourself in harm’s way in more ways than one.
First and foremost, you have an obligation to report to work. We all took an oath, none of us remember signing
the paper, but we did. Just go and look in your e-OPF and see the stuff that you originally signed when you were hired, you might be surprised. Just because you earn sick and/or annual leave, doesn’t mean that you should utilize every drop, as soon as you get it. The Service will begin to write you up, and if your attendance is poor enough, they will progressively work the discipline to remove you from your position.
Over my career as a Union Representative, I have had more than a few carriers fired because of their attendance. And usually, if you get progressively disciplined all the way up to a Notice of Removal that goes to Arbitration, an Arbitrator will review your record and if it’s not so good, you may lose your job.
This does not only apply to full day absences. There are many of you out there that are notoriously, late almost every day. And while the Handbooks and Manuals allow for an 8 unit leeway, that’s really meant for standing on line waiting to punch in, not as an allowance to attempt to rush in at the 8th unit. Now we all run late once in awhile, the car has problems, the traffic is heavy, there was an emergency at home, but those of you who come in late every single day, well you are just looking for trouble. An Alternate Shop Steward was fired for consistently coming in late daily and there was nothing the Union could do to save that carrier.
Secondly, and no one likes to think of this but, the time may come where you may need that time. It could be a parent, spouse or child who becomes ill and you may use 80 of your own sick leave for dependent care purposes of you may come down with an illness that necessitates you being out of work for a few weeks or more. That sick leave is money in the bank. What a feeling to know that you will receive your full salary for the time you are convalescing vs. worrying about how you are going to make your bills.
Don’t be stupid and waste it, use it if you need it and under the constraints of the FMLA so that you are protected.
Another fast track for firing is Insubordination. Listen, I get it, the Postal Service is really a miserable place to be working right now. In some offices there is no overtime, in some other offices there is too much overtime and in every office the CCAs are required to work every Sunday. No matter how you cut it, someone is angry. But again, here’s the thing. Go back into that e-OPF and see what you signed. Read the M-41 handbook that is at each and every carrier case. Unless an instruction is putting your safety and health at risk, you must attempt to follow that instruction.
Here’s a classic example of what I am talking about. You’ve been working all day, return to the office, thinking you are heading home, only to be ordered back out to help someone else. Flipping off the Supervisor is not going to get you far. Ignoring the Supervisor and going home is not going to get you far. Raising your voice and letting the supervisor know just exactly what they can do with themselves, well, I see a write up coming. You have to attempt to follow the instruction.
If there is a situation where you must leave because there is no one for your child, or you have a long awaited medical appointment, you need to explain the situation, attempt to find a solution to the outside obligation but if you cannot, you need to respectfully state it. And I guarantee that a write up is to follow however, hopefully there will be some adjudication through the grievance procedure.
We are here to protect you and your rights under the contract. But sometimes, you put yourself in harm’s way and you throw yourself under the bus. Please think about your leave and use it wisely, it makes it harder on everyone else if you are abusing your leave, and it may come back to haunt you in a future time. Also think about your words before they come out of your mouth. It is impossible to put them back in your mouth once they have come out. We all have enough stress in life, please don’t put you and your family in a financial hardship because you just didn’t feel like coming to work, you just continue to come in late for work or you just need to have the last word with your supervisor.
