From Greg Bell, APWU Director Industrial Relations

 In response to an inquiry concerning my September 19th e-mail, let me further clarify the APWU position “that the Postal Service September 10, 2007 letter of response memorializes the parties’s mutual understanding/agreement concerning the circumstances and conditions that medical documentation for absences of three days or less may or may note be required.”

        In that there is no dispute at the national level over the above-referenced matter, there is no joint settlement/document memorializing the parties’s mutual understanding/agreement.  The purpose of the APWU,s August 27th letter was (1) to specify the conditions under which an employee may required to submit medical documentation for absences of 3 days or less, and (2) to determine if there is a disagreement between the parties.

        After specifying the conditions that medical documentation for absences of three days or less may or may not be required, the APWU in its August 27th letter specifically requested the following:

        If the Postal Service disagrees with the APWU position, it is requested that you provide the Employer’s position and  any supporting authority to the contrary.

        In response, the Postal Service stated “…As far as the Postal Service is concerned, there is no dispute or disagreement regarding the conditions under which an employee may be required to submit medical documentation or other acceptable evidence for periods of absence of 3 days or less.”  Therefore, it is the APWU position that there is no dispute or disagreement between the parties at the national level concerning the circumstances and conditions that medical documentation for absences of 3 days or less – as specified in the APWU’s August 27th letter, and the Postal Service’s August 27th letter of response represent their mutual understanding/agreement. 

        Naturally, whether local management is improperly requiring medical documentation for 3 days or less is based as local fact circumstances.  However, pursuant to the correspondences (APWU-August 27th and USPS-September 10th Letters)there is no disagreement between the parties at the national level to the conditions under which an employee may or may not be required to submit medical documentation for absences of 3 days or less.  On those occasions when local management improperly required an employee to submit medical evidence for 3 days or less, the correspondences in question should be used in support of the union’s position.