Medical Documentation & Unscheduled Absences
Every person whether a Letter Carrier or just any person in general naturally experiences times when illness prevents them for performing everyday life activities. Sometimes it may prevent a person from attending a family function or a dinner planed out with friends, or even restricts a parent from attending an important function with their children. And believe it or not sometimes an illness will prevent a person from reporting to work. I say believe it or not because on too many occasions when a Letter Carrier calls in to report an illness they are met with sarcasm or doubt when reporting an unscheduled absence to the Postal Service. There are contractual regulations that limits the Postal Service in what documentation they may require a letter carriers to do when reporting an unscheduled absence due to illness to the Postal Service.
If you are a letter carrier in the Triboro district who suffers from an unexpected illness that prevents you from reporting to work on a regularly scheduled day, you pick up the telephone and report to ERMS that because of illness, you will not be reporting to work and are requesting eight hours of sick leave. All too often a Letter Carrier is surprised to hear that they are being instructed by ERMS that you’ve been placed on a “Deems Desirable” list and are required to submit acceptable medical documentation upon your return to work. You believe that you should be returning back to work in a day or two and do not understand why you are being asked to bring in medical documentation for an absence that does not exceed three days. You also do not understand how you can be placed on a Deems Desirable list when no management personnel ever discussed such a topic with you. In fact, you may not even know what a Deems Desirable list is or what it means. What should you do?
For the record the sick leave documentations requirements are found in the ELM Section 513 (Part of Article 19) directly below and states:
513.36 Sick Leave Documentation Requirements
513.361 Three Days or Less
For periods of absence of 3 days or less, supervisors may accept the employee’s statement explaining the absence. Medical documentation or other acceptable evidence of incapacity for work or need to care for a family member is required only when the employee is on restricted sick leave (see 513.39) or when the supervisor deems documentation desirable for the protection of the interests of the Postal Service. Substantiation of the family relationship must be provided if requested.
513.362 Over Three Days
For absences in excess of 3 days, employees are required to submit medical documentation or other acceptable evidence of incapacity for work or of need to care for a family member and, if requested, substantiation of the family relationship.
In the case where you believe the Postal Service is requiring you to submit medical documentation in violation of what is written above, you should follow the instructions, obtain the required medical documentation, and submit the documentation along with PS Form 3971 upon your return back to work. You should then see your shop steward, so an investigation can be conducted to determine if management improperly required you to provide medical documentation as a result of being categorized as “Deems Desirable”.
In many cases management has incorrectly required a carrier to provide medical documentation as a result of being categorized as deems desirable. In these instances, a grievance should be filed and a proper remedy might include a cease and desist order, payment of any out of pocket expense incurred for obtaining the medical documentation from a doctor, travel expense to and from the doctor’s office and payment for the time used in traveling to and from the doctor’s appointment which would also include the time spent at the doctor’s office. Repeat violations should also include a further monetary award for continuing to ignore any previous cease and desist instructions on the matter.
The two most common instances where management has incorrectly placed letter carriers on deems desirable include restricted sick leave and when management requests documentation for the protection of the postal service.
In the first instance, restricted sick leave, it must be noted that management may not place an employee on deems desirable without following the ELMS provisions listed below.
513.39 Restricted Sick Leave
513.391 Reasons for Restriction
Supervisors or installation heads who have evidence indicating that an employee is abusing sick leave privileges may place the employee on the restricted sick leave list. In addition, employees may be placed on the restricted sick leave list after their sick leave use has been reviewed on an individual basis and the following actions have been taken:
a. Establishment of an absence file.
b. Review of the absence file by the immediate supervisor and higher levels of management.
c. Review of the absences during the past quarter of LWOP and sick leave used by employees. (No minimum sick leave balance is established below which the employee’s sick leave record is automatically considered unsatisfactory.)
d. Supervisor’s discussion of absence record with the employee.
e. Review of the subsequent quarterly absences. If the absence logs indicate no improvement, the supervisor is to discuss the matter with the employee to include advice that if there is no improvement during the next quarter, the employee will be placed on restricted sick leave.
513.392 Notice and Listing
Supervisors provide written notice to employees that their names have been added to the restricted sick leave listing. The notice also explains that, until further notice, the employees must support all requests for sick leave by medical documentation or other acceptable evidence (see 513.364).
513.393 Recision of Restriction
Supervisors review the employee’s PS Form 3972 for each quarter. If there has been a substantial decrease in absences charged to sickness, the employee’s name is removed from the restricted sick leave list and the employee is notified in writing of the removal.
If management fails to comply with any of the above instructions, then they are in violation of Articles 10 and 19 of the National Agreement and should not have placed any letter carrier on a deems desirable list.
Additionally, it should be emphasized that management must not leave a letter carrier on restricted sick leave indefinitely. Management should review the absence logs quarterly and if the log indicates no improvement, only then can a carrier be placed on restricted sick leave for an additional quarter. In addition, supervisors must provide written notice as stated above that their names have been placed on restricted sick leave. This written notice on many occasions is omitted by management when placing a letter carrier on restricted sick leave.
For those letter carriers in the Long Island District who call their supervisors to report an absence due to illness that does not exceed 3 days the above also applies in those instances. Management may not require medical documentation of any absence of 3 days or less if they did not follow the ELM provisions above or management does not provide a valid reason in situations in which a supervisor is requiring a letter carrier to provide medical documentation for the protection of the Postal Service. In any circumstance where this occurs the letter carrier should immediately see their steward to investigate a possible grievance. It is also important to note that if the Postal Service either through ERMS or through a verbal instruction from a managerial personnel request medical documentation for an absence of 3 days or less, that the letter carrier follow the instructions, provide any such documentation requested and request to see your Shop Steward so an investigation can be conducted to obtain all the facts, and determine if management violated the contractual provisions such as but not limited to Article’s 10 and 19.
