Employees use PS Form 1188, Cancellation of Organization Dues from Payroll Withholdings, to cancel dues withholding.
Except as specified in 925.122, an employee can cancel an SF 1187 only in accordance with the terms of the authorization form that the employee signs to initiate the dues withholding. This holds true for members of organizations such as the American Federation of Government Employees or the National Alliance of Postal Employees, that are not “certified bargaining representatives” or “recognized organizations of supervisory and other managerial personnel.”
Special circumstances that alter the conditions for canceling dues withholding are as follows:
- Employees who enrolled in any organization before July 1, 1971, or who are members of supervisory or managerial organizations designated by Codes N, P, or S, may submit their cancellation notice at any time, but it is not processed until the first full pay period following March 1 or September 1, whichever occurs first after receipt of the form. These employees submit PS Form 1188 to the installation head, who forwards the form to the servicing HRSSC, except as noted in 925.122f.
- An employee using the revised SF 1187 described in 924.12 may cancel only by submitting PS Form 1188 to the installation head and via certified mail to the organization’s national office not more than 20 days, and not less than 10 days before the anniversary date (date of the delivery to employer). PS Form 1188 must be date-stamped upon receipt. It is this date that is used to determine if the cancellation request was received in accordance with the above requirements.
Example: Assume an anniversary date of December 1. The employee signs and dates PS Form 1188 on November 10 and certifies that Copy 3 of the form has been sent to the organization’s national office by certified mail. To comply with the 20/10 day requirement specified above, the employing office must receive and date stamp part B of the form between November 11 and November 21. If the HRSSC receives all three copies of PS Form 1188, the entire form is returned to the employee with the reason(s) noted. The 20/10 day rule is a requirement of the revised SF 1187 that can be waived only by the union.
- An employee whose documented position is not within a recognized bargaining unit (such as a supervisor), but who is having dues withheld for a labor organization that is recognized as a bargaining agent (see 923a), may voluntarily cancel the dues withholding authorization, effective the first full pay period after the request for cancellation is received at the HRSSC. The PS Form 1188 should be annotated to reflect the employee’s current job title and effective date.
- The SF 1187 of a non-career employee stays in effect for 180 days following termination, even though the Postal Service does not withhold dues, to allow the employee the option of continued withholding if the employee is rehired within that 180-day period. If a non-career employee wants to cancel dues withholding when rehired, he or she may do so within 10 days by submitting PS Form 1188. A non-career employee may also cancel dues withholding according to the 20/10 day requirement, i.e., not more than 20 days, and not less than 10 days before the anniversary date. This anniversary date is the “date of delivery to employer” of the SF 1187 originally authorizing dues withholding, and this date remains fixed regardless of the number of consecutive appointments.
- The APWU processes PS Form 1188 for its members to cancel dues withholding.
- NAPUS processes PS Form 1188 for its members to cancel dues withholding.
Exhibit 925.1
PS Form 1188, Cancellation of Organization Dues From Payroll Withholdings
The Postal Service discontinues dues withholding upon separation of any employee enrolled in the dues withholding program, although the process is modified for non-career employees. Dues withholding is discontinued for a non-career employee at the end of a term of employment, but the SF 1187 stays in effect for 180 days. If the employee is rehired within 180 days, the dues deduction restarts, unless the employee submits a cancellation as specified in 925.122d. After 180 days, a rehired employee must complete another SF 1187 in order to activate dues withholding.
Withholding of dues is discontinued at any time upon written request from the organization for which the withholding is authorized.
Cancellation notices must include the employee’s name, date, dues deduction anniversary date, Social Security number, name and finance number of the installation where officially assigned, and name and alpha code of the organization involved.
The postal installation receiving a properly executed PS Form 1188 promptly forwards the original and Copy 2 to the HRSSC. The HRSSC promptly notifies the installation head or designee of any refusal to honor PS Form 1188, and the reason for doing so, by returning Copy 2 of the completed PS Form 1188 to the employing office. The installation head or designee, in turn, notifies the employee.
All SFs 1198 (as provided by the various eligible postal organizations as specified in 923) and PS Forms 1188 requiring a payroll adjustment are sent to the HRSSC for processing. The forms are files with the permanent documents in the employee’s eOPF.
When an employee who is having dues withheld for a management or labor organization (as listed in 923a or b) transfers or is reassigned to another postal installation, his or her dues withholdings are transferred to the local organization at the gaining installation. The dues amount remains the same unless otherwise changed by the new local organization. If a change in the dues amount is to be made, a request is submitted by the organization as provided in 924.62; however, such request is limited to the employee involved.
