Side Letter No. 1

Gentlemen:

During our discussions on New York Dock Protection we discussed the issue of a pool engineer taking a single day paid absence such as a Personal Leave day  or single day vacation and the impact it will have on his/her protection.  In an effort to simplify the process and to provide the pool engineer with an alternative the parties agree that a pool engineer shall have one of the following options:

1. Elect a single paid personal leave or vacation day and hold their turn so that if it obtains a first out status they will be first out when they are marked up no less than 24 hours later, with no deduction from their protection; or
2. Elect a minimum of two consecutive days paid personal leave or vacation days on pools whose round trip district miles are 400 or less or a minimum of three consecutive days  on pools whose round trip district miles are more than 400 miles and not hold their turns.  If the minimum number of consecutive  days are met for each round trip then no deduction will be made in their protection.

Question #1: If the round trip district miles of a run are 390 miles and initial and or final terminal delay make a payment over 400 miles, how many personal leave days must be used?
Answer #1: Only the district miles are used for determining the number of personal leave days to be used.  In this case two personal leave days would qualify for no deduction.

Question #2: If the round trip district miles are over 400 miles, how is a deadhead counted?
Answer #2: Deadheads are already taken into account by using a 1/15th offset for pools.  Since most pools do not average 15 round trips per month a 1/15th offset is less than using the average for each pool.  As a result the round trip district miles are used for determining the number of personal leave days that would substitute for no offset and in this case three personal leave days would qualify.

Question #3: If an employee requests the minimum of 2 days for a 380 round trip, can the Carrier approve only 1 day?
Answer #3: No.  Depending on the needs of service, either both days will be granted or both days declined.

4. Elect a single paid personal leave or vacation day and not hold their turn resulting in  payment of a single day with a corresponding 1/15th deduction from protection.

The option must be selected by the engineer at the time the personal leave or vacation day is granted.  Engineers must file the protection form each time they take paid days in accordance with the above options.

Yours truly,

W. S. Hinckley
General Director Labor Relations

AGREED:

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M. A. Mitchell
General Chairman BLE WP

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