Annual Leave Exchange Option

The Annual Leave Exchange Program provides an option for eligible career employees to receive a lump sum payment in exchange for a portion of the annual leave that would otherwise be advanced at the beginning of the 2009 leave year.

Note: Annual leave earned and accumulated through the 2008 leave year, which ends January 2, 2009, cannot be exchanged for cash.

Eligible Employees

Employees eligible for the Annual Leave Exchange Program include the following:

• Career nonbargaining unit employees from rate schedule codes (RSCs) E, F, S, U, V, and Z who have an annual leave balance of at least 160 hours at the end of the leave year.
• Career bargaining unit employees (except part-time flexible employees) from the following RSCs who have an annual leave balance of at least 440 hours at the end of the leave year and have used less than 75 hours of sick leave during the leave year:
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union — RSC M.
• International Association of Machinists — RSC T.
• American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO — RSCs C, N, and P.
• Operating Services Division Agreement — RSC K.
• Fraternal Order of Police, National Labor Council, USPS No. 2 — RSC Y.

PostalEASE Elections

Employees who meet the eligibility criteria and want to exercise this option must use PostalEASE to make elections. For the election to be considered timely, employees must complete their entries in PostalEASE by 11:59 p.m. Central Time, December 15, 2008.

Employees who are unable to use PostalEASE to complete their elections should contact the Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC) for assistance before December 15, 2008, at 877-477-3273, option 5, Benefits. To reach the HRSSC using TTY, call 866-260-7507.

Forms will not be distributed for this election period.

Payment by Lump Sum

For bargaining unit employees, payment under the Annual Leave Exchange Program will be a lump sum calculated on the employee’s base salary as of the first day of the 2009 leave year (January 3, 2009) and included in paychecks dated January 23, 2009. For nonbargaining unit employees, the lump sum is calculated on salary as of January 17, 2009, and included in February 6, 2009, paychecks.

Letter Soon to Be Mailed to Eligible Employees

The Eagan Accounting Service Center (ASC) will mail a letter providing details of the eligibility criteria and instructions for using PostalEASE to make annual leave exchange elections to eligible employees at their address of record during November 2008. Undeliverable letters will be returned to the employing office of record. When an office receives a returned letter, the office should encourage the employee to update his or her address. Employees with access to Employee Change of Address on the Postal Service™ Intranet (Blue page) or to an employee self-service kiosk should use those entry methods. Other employees should submit an updated PS Form 1216, Employee’s Current Mailing Address, to the HRSSC.

— Compensation, Human Resources, 10-23-08

Please Post On All Bulletin Boards Through December 15, 2008.

 

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