Effective immediately, the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), subchapter 470, Recognition and Awards, is revised to state that:
n The purchase of any season or partial season sporting and entertainment ticket is prohibited.
n The purchase of any single sporting or entertainment ticket that costs $50.00 or more must be approved in advance by the Vice President, Controller.
Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM)
4 Pay Administration
470 Recognition and Awards
471 Overview
471.3 Awards
471.31 Cash Awards
[Revise 471.31 to read as follows:]
A cash award is issued in the form of a check by Accounting Services. All cash awards are considered ordinary income and are subject to the following deductions: (a) federal, state, Medicare, and Social Security (if applicable); and (b) involuntary deductions such as child support and tax levies. (Various other payroll deductions are not withheld from the cash award.) Since these payroll deductions are made from cash awards, the net amount of the check will be less than the requested dollar amount.
471.32 Cash Equivalent Awards
[Revise 471.32 to read as follows:]
A cash equivalent award is a product purchased from an authorized Postal Service supplier, which is immediately convertible to cash, such as a gift check. Cash equivalent awards, regardless of value, are considered ordinary income and are subject to income tax. Cash equivalent awards must be reported in eAwards under the award category appropriate for the type of employee and reason for the award. Reporting of cash equivalents should occur in the same pay period in which they are received by the employee, but must occur in the same calendar year to avoid tax reporting discrepancies. Cash equivalent awards are automatically grossed up by eAwards so that the Postal Service assumes the tax liability for the recipient. The additional tax liability is charged to the finance number indicated in eAwards when reported.
471.33 Noncash Tangible Awards
[Revise 471.33 to read as follows:]
471.331 Authorized
Noncash tangible awards authorized by the Postal Service are described below. See 471.332 for noncash tangible awards that are prohibited.
a. Informal Recognition, such as pins, pen and pencil sets, coffee mugs, apparel, plaques, event tickets, etc., valued at less than $50.
1. Reporting. Individual noncash tangible award items valued at less than $50 are not normally considered taxable income and are not reported in eAwards. However, management must track all noncash tangible items valued at less than $50 received by an employee during the calendar year. If the aggregate total of all noncash tangible items valued at less than $50 received by an employee in a calendar year meets or exceeds $50, the total amount must be reported in eAwards under the appropriate noncash tangible award type for the employee category and reason for the award.
2. Event tickets. Tickets to a specific event, game, play, concert, movie, etc., for a definite time and place that cannot be exchanged for another event, time, or place, etc., and are valued at less than $50 are informal awards and do not constitute reportable income. However, any of the preceding items valued at $50 or more, or any certificate that can be exchanged or redeemed for a ticket or tickets to an event at the time and place of the recipient’s choice, regardless of value, are considered gift certificates and must be reported in eAwards under the appropriate noncash award type (see 471.34).
b. Formal Noncash Tangible Recognition, such as clothing, event tickets, merchandise, electronics, and other personal property valued at $50 or more (see 471.332). The market value of formal noncash tangible award items may range from $50 up to $3000 depending on the reason for the award (Spot Award, Team Award, Contest Award, etc.). Individual noncash tangible items valued at $50 or more are always considered taxable income, and should be reported in eAwards in the same pay period in which they are received under the appropriate noncash award type for the employee category and reason for the award. Reporting must take place in the same calendar year to avoid tax reporting discrepancies. Noncash tangible awards are automatically grossed up by eAwards so that the Postal Service assumes the tax liability for the recipient. The additional tax liability for grossed up awards is charged to the finance number indicated when reported in eAwards.
471.332 Prohibited
The purchase of any season or partial season sporting or entertainment ticket is prohibited. The purchase of any single event ticket (sporting events, movies, and concerts, etc.) that costs $50.00 or more requires advance approval, in the form of an email or letter, from the Vice President, Controller.
474 Informal Award
474.1 Overview
[Revise 474.1 to read as follows:]
Characteristics of this award are as follows:
474.3 Description
[Revise 474.3 to read as follows:]
The Informal Award is a noncash tangible item of less than $50 in value obtained or purchased locally, such as a plaque, a coffee mug, an article of clothing, tickets to a specific entertainment event, or similar item. (Purchasing and reporting requirements pertaining to event tickets and noncash tangible items less than $50 in value are set forth in 471.331; prohibited purchases in 471.332.)
474.7 Documentation
[Revise 474.7 to read as follows:]
Management must track all informal awards presented to employees. If the aggregate amount of informal awards received by an employee during a calendar year meets or exceeds $50, the total amount of informal awards must be reported as income in eAwards under the appropriate noncash award category. (See 471.331b for reporting requirements.) The value of informal awards presented to contractors should never meet or exceed $50 in a calendar year.
We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of the ELM and into the next online update, available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
Everyone should file FMLA anxiety claims arguing that these actions by maneement only serve to create hostile work environments. This is the way of the PO!
Craft employees have been exempt from receiving awards. Red neck bullies with PHDs in eliminating craft employees who demand that contractural articles be adered to. Awarewards rds, PFP and upward mobility are rewards directed by MPOOs, Egotistical insecure postmasters and others from district operations, area managers and upper echelon management. These groups are creative in disguisng rewards for their hit men.
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Awards are by management and for management. Of course they throw a few crumbs to the craft but by and large they keep them for themselves.
I agree totally with the first post. I’ve been in the USPS a long time and I know management would sooner cut their own throats before handing out accolades to craft personnel.
Our small office with 25 city routes nonetheless has a good record – three of our carriers have been awarded the Million Mile award for going 30 years without an accident. The first two awards went off without a problem, both carriers getting a certificate and a check for $1000. However, when the third carrier became eligible, they suddenly declared a budget crisis and he originally didn’t get his check. The union raised hell about it and he was given his check after all, but I’m not enthusiastic about any other craft employee getting anything.
Instead, it’s gone the other way, with management giving themselves unearned and undeserved bonuses even when the Service is in such bad shape. It’s incredible how much they think they’re worth to themselves, when they’re the ones directly responsible for the Service being in the situation it is. It’s true management isn’t responsible for the retiring prefunding requirement, but did any of them raise hell about it? Not that I recall.
When I was a young pup, having been there 27+ years, there used to be incentive awards given out fairly regularly for deserving carriers. Now it takes 13 years or more to top out, but I received a couple of incentive awards for busting my ass on a foot route and topped out in just over 10 years.
That kind of recognition is gone now. Management has become so delirious and obsessed that they micromanage down to the minute now. They are leeches on the backs of good workers, and were it not for honest hard working clerks and carriers, they’d be out on their asses. Instead they get to glad hand each other and take credit for something they had no part of.
We do not need this worthless crap. Get rid of the bloat and if ranks start to thin out due to attrition and buy out, put those jerks back in craft. We’ll take REAL good care of them.
Sounds like lunch time every day . Everything is put on postal american express card . Then off to the local motel for an award . This was brought to the attention of others and guess what , promoted out of city . It sure does pay to get ahead .
The next thing you know, they will stop sending managers and supervisors on an all expenses paid vacation every year to Norman, OK (called the MOMS Conference). Its suppose to be a week of conference meetings, but the meetings are not mandatory. You can hang out at the Marriot ran hotel, bar, pool, bar, play golf, or go up to Lake Thunderbird. Of coarse, if you want to go to the meetings; you will learn all kinds of neat ways to screw craft out of their contract rights. (Of coarse, Management will lose the grivences that follow and millions of dollars afterward). Surely, the USPS can easily afford to keep sending management on a one week vacation every year?
OK, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME A CARRIER, CLERK OR MAILHANDLER EVER GOT AN AWARD FROM MANAGEMENT? WE CAN’T EVEN GET HEAT IN THE WINTER OR AIR IN THE SUMMER IN THE WINDOW SECTION WHERE I WORK. THEY SURE AS HELL ARE NOT GIVING OUT AWARDS TO THE PEOPLE THEY HATE – THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY WORK THE MAIL. WHAT A JOKE.