But Wait; That’s Not All!
As I said in my first article, I feel fortunate for my career in the USPS as well as NALC. My experiences working for a “Union Shop” has been wildly different than working in the food industry; as I did when I was a young man. The word benefits went from a nebulous concept to a specific agreement by the employer to provide: Bankable Leave, affordable Healthcare, Life Insurance, retirement income, Uniform allotment and so on. After 21 years on the job I have not become so familiar with my benefits that I my appreciation for my Union have waned.
As a newly appointed fulltime Officer of Branch 6000 I immediately realized that I had underestimated the gravity of my new responsibilities. Even after a fruitful, diverse career as a Shop Steward as well as Part Time Officer, I was very surprised at how hard the Branch as well as the National Union works for their members. One such example is the fact that that the Branch employs a great amount of my time as an OWCP representative. There are not a lot of Unions or Labor organizations that have a Workers Comp Advocate that is as well equipped to assist members with a Workers Compensation Claim as well as protect your rights through the process.
However, I have noticed a situation that has come up too frequently that I find most dismaying. It is when some Member’s OWCP claim is initially denied by the Department of Labor and the cases is appealed. Some of our brothers and sisters are injured on the job to no fault of their own and don’t have much of a support system to lean on while their OWCP appeal is being adjudicated. One of the biggest obstacles in that scenario is the expenses due to any physical therapy or medical treatments that these members may need. I have learned that many health insurance companies take the position that medical expenses derived from a condition that was originally filed and denied by the Department of Labor as an on the job Injury, may only be partially covered or not covered at all.
However I have learned that the NALC Health Benefit Plan takes a different, kinder approach. I pulled the following language from the NALC Health Benefit Plan Brochure from their website.
Workers’ Compensation
We do not cover services that: • You (or a covered family member) need because of a workplace-related illness or injury that the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) or a similar federal or state agency determines they must provide; or • OWCP or a similar agency pays for through a third party injury settlement or other similar proceeding that is based on a claim you filed under OWCP or similar laws. If OWCP or a similar agency disallows benefits or pays its maximum benefit for your treatment, we will pay the benefits described in this brochure.
What that means is; if OWCP denies your claim, the NALC Health Benefit Plan will cover necessary treatment while your OWCP appeal is being adjudicated. The obvious advantage is that members of the NALC Heath Benefit program won’t have to make the choice between costly out of pocket expenses for the treatment they need or going without the necessary treatment altogether.
Open Season for Health Benefits is just around the corner; Open Season dates always run from the second Monday in November through the second Monday in December. This year, the dates are November 8 until December 13 of 2021. You may want to consider switching to the NALC Heath Benefit Plan in consideration of that “extra mile” that our Health Benefit Plan is willing to go.
In addition to the peril of unpaid medical expenses, our members that were denied by OWCP and are physically unable to return to duty have been harassed and disciplined by Management. Although it may be obvious to some reading this article, many other are unaware that often absences caused by on the job injuries are covered by the protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides Postal Employees with up to 12 weeks of, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable leave for certain family and medical reasons. Section 105 of the FMLA and section 825.220 of the FMLA regulations prohibit the following actions:
· An employer is prohibited from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any FMLA right.
· An employer is prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against an employee or prospective employee for having exercised or attempted to exercise any FMLA right.
In other words FLMA protects you from being disciplined for using qualifying FLMA Leave. If you are out of work because of an on the job injury and appealing a denial of your OWCP benefits, you should consider completing a FLMA WH-381 application.
You can find the aforementioned application on the Branch 6000 website; NALCbranch6000.com. Click on “Links” on the top right hand corner of the homepage, click on the Family and Medical Leave act (FMLA) link under Government Agency Links, click on Forms and then Designation Notice, form WH-382.
As always I would like to remind you to guard your mental health as well as your physical health. In these trying times of so much divisiveness both at work and home it becomes easy to lose sight of what is really important. The way we treat each other at work matters. Both negativity and positively is contagious and at times negatively is just as impactful as any virus. The best vaccine is for us to watch out for each other and to demonstrate care to all our brother and sister Carriers.
