Contract Enforcement

On a recent trip, the Company published a pairing with a revenue leg, followed by a deadhead at the end. The pairing was scheduled with a duty time of 13 hours and 55 minutes. The scheduled Day duty limit is 13:00 (Section 12.C.4.a.). However, Section 12.C.4.g.ii, Deadhead Following Revenue Flight, states “If the duty period began in the day or night period, the entire duty period may be scheduled up to 2 hours beyond the scheduled limitations in Section 12.C.4.a. or b., in order to accomplish the deadhead.” This results in a scheduled limit of 15:00 hours for Day duty and 13:30 for Night duty.

Section 12.C.4.i. states “If a pilot is scheduled to deadhead to base after revenue flying, and his duty period exceeds 10 hours, he may obtain a hotel room at Company expense, in order to take a later flight, as provided in Section 5.B.1.f.”

Section 5.B.1.f. states “at the conclusion of the revenue portion of a trip, at the pilot’s election, when the final duty period of that trip exceeds 10 hours and the pilot is scheduled to deadhead by air to his base as the concluding segment of the trip.

i. The room shall be located in the city in which the revenue portion of the trip terminates and the deadhead is scheduled to originate.
ii. The pilot is responsible for maintaining his eligibility and legality for a subsequent assignment.
iii. Unless operational circumstances preclude it, CRS shall assist the pilot in making his reservation at the contract hotel, or, if unavailable, at another comparable hotel in the same city.
iv. Deviation from scheduled deadhead procedures as referenced in Section 8.C.1.h. (End of Trip Deviation) shall be followed.”

Therefore, if the final duty period exceeds 10 hours, and you comply with Section 5.B.1.f. then you can get a hotel room. However, no adjustment will be made to your pairing as this is a deviation. Contact CRS and cite the applicable CBA language, and if necessary, contact the Duty Officer. In this crew’s case they did everything right. They contacted CRS and the Hotel desk for assistance with their requests and had the information placed on the trip pairing. Additionally, they filled out Fatigue and Insite Reports and passed their information to FDX ALPA via the SIG and Fatigue Committees.

If you have any contractual concerns, please contact FDX ALPA Contract Enforcement at Fedex-Enforcement@alpa.org.

How Can a Pilot Receive a No Show for a trip despite being unaware that it was assigned to him?

When a pilot submits a bid line adjustment for general make-up, the pilot is responsible for any make-up assignment that complies with his submission (25.L.6.b.v.). CRS shall notify a pilot via VIPS that the submission has been accepted or denied (25.L.1.a.). If the notification is not closed out by the pilot, CRS may attempt to notify via a telephone call. Removal from the trip as a No Show is the likely result if the pilot cannot be contacted. We encourage you to check your crew notifications and remember to withdraw a submission for general make-up when you are no longer available. If you have any questions, please contact FedEx-Enforcement@alpa.org.

Did you know that seat selection fees are allowable/reimbursable expenses (8.C.3.a.iii.)?

The fee is limited to the greater of $40 per flight segment or $80 per positioning sequence. The pilot must charge the fee(s) to the Company issued travel card and provide the receipt.

Did you know a pilot who declines substitution (SUB) before the showtime of the original trip (i.e., the trip or series of trips that actually created the SUB eligibility) can make up the credit hours at 125% of the pilot’s normal pay rate? This is making an election for open time priority or for short, OTP (Sec. 25.H.11.). A pilot in OTP is pay protected for the trip guarantee of the original trip for the remainder of the bid period in which the trip began plus three additional bid periods, a full bid period increase from the 2011 Agreement. The trip guarantee for the original trip is deducted from the first paycheck after the pay protection ends (Sec. 4.N.1.). The ideal result is the pilot takes advantage of OTP and makes up the credit hours before the pay protection ends. Sometimes life gets in the way and we cannot obtain the ideal result, but don’t worry. The credit hours not made up before OTP expires are available for general make-up (Sec. 25.L.4.).

Please contact FedEx-Enforcement@alpa.org if you have any questions or concerns regarding the CBA.

Trip Extensions
A quality of life enhancement in the 2015 CBA is Section 12.A.8., which reduces trip extensions by 12 hours compared to the previous language. Domestic trips can be extended 36 hours and international trips 84 hours into time previously scheduled free from duty at base. Please note that the 36/84 limit may be exceeded due to maintenance or weather disruptions particular to the pilot’s specific flight, but only to that limited extent.

Critical Period Pay
One of many pay enhancements in the current CBA are the Critical Period Pay Events (Section 4.GG.). This language applies to all domestic trips, regardless of the assignment code. Also, it is paid in addition to other compensation. There are four situations that qualify for the Critical Period Pay.

1. Critical Period Departures
   Following flight deck duty that operates anytime in the critical period, if a pilot has an intermediate stop at a facility other than AFW, CDG, EWR, IND, MEM, or OAK (or other like facilities as agreed upon by the SIG), that is greater than 2 but less than 4 hours (from block-in to block-out), the pilot shall be paid 1.5 CH. This event shall not apply to trips that depart base in the critical period and return to base in the same
   duty period (out and backs).
2. For any duty period that begins in the critical period, a pilot shall be aid 1.5 CH for each landing in excess of 2 in that duty period.
3. For any duty period that begins in the critical period, if a trip departs from base and returns to base in the same duty period, and blocks in after 10:15 LBT, the pilot shall be paid 1.5 CH.
4. For any flight deck duty period that operates in the critical period, and has a flight in excess of 4:30 block hours, the pilot shall be paid 3 CH for each subsequent flight in that duty period.

Please contact Fedex-Enforcement@alpa.org if you have any CBA questions.

Please note that Section 25.C.12.f. (trip or R-day block conflict with recurrent training), and 25.E.4.b.i.(a)(1) – (4) (secondary line holder designation of number of vacation days) have not been implemented. To view the Implementation Schedule posted on the FedEx MEC home page, please click here.

A pilot’s current bid period schedule, including carryover, takes precedence over a subsequent bid period schedule.  Any trip that conflicts with carryover (including a previously removed carryover trip) will be dropped as CIC (Carry-in Conflict) and is eligible for make-up. If your new trip is greater than 120 hours TABF, you may request to keep this trip on your line if the carryover trip is less than 72 hours TAFB or 3-day block (Sec. 25.F.3.a.).

When bidding vacation with carryover, remember that carryover conflicts will cause the trip in the new bid period to drop out before the vacation period is considered. This means that if you bid a long trip in your next month’s vacation week, and if this trip is also in conflict with carryover, the trip in the new bid period will be dropped for the conflict before it is dropped for vacation.

1. In January, suppose you have a carryover trip (into February), but the trip is dropped owing to a January vacation. When you bid for February you MUST remember to bid to de-conflict (if that is your wish) with the carryover trip even though the trip has been dropped. Otherwise any trip in conflict with that trip will be dropped as CIC.
2. In another scenario, suppose you have a January carryover trip (into February) and you have vacation in February, but the vacation does not conflict with the carryover trip; however, the carryover trip is in conflict with a trip on your February line. In addition, the February trip is also in conflict with your vacation. What knocks out the February trip, the carryover trip or vacation? Answer = the carryover trip.

Vacation days are considered work days for minimum days off protection.
Please contact fedex-enforcement@alpa.org if you have any CBA questions.

Section 8.C.3.a.vi. provides additional flexibility in deviation travel. If your deadhead ticket has been booked in economy class and you are scheduled for less than 16 hours of duty but more than 10 hours of scheduled block, you may deviate to obtain a higher class of service on another carrier.

Under these circumstances, your Deviation Bank shall be credited with 130% of the Established Fare on the scheduled deadhead route, and your deviation travel is not required to match the scheduled routing. Please keep this in mind as an option for deviating and contact ContractEnforcement (FedEx-Enforcement@alpa.org) with any questions regarding this provision or Section 8 of the CBA.

If a management pilot bumps a line pilot from his scheduled trip or a portion thereof, the line pilot shall receive the scheduled credit hours and deviation credit, if any, for the trip or portion thereof. Consequently, duty should not be added in place of the bumped trip or portion thereof. (Section 9.A.2.)

Whether continental or intercontinental, a pilot who deviates from deadhead travel at the beginning
of a trip may check in at the contract hotel a maximum of 2 days early. (Section 8.C.3.d.iii.) The
umber of days was increased with the 2015 CBA. This hotel use is a deviation expense and is
charged to your bid period deviation bank.

Please contact Fedex-Enforcement@alpa.org if you have any contract concerns.

Did you know a reassignment trip (RAT) is triggered if the assigned/awarded trip is revised to:

• show at least 4 hours earlier then the original scheduled trip. (Section 25.H.2.b.)
• release at least 4 hours later than the original scheduled trip. (Section 25.H.2.b.)

Once offered a RAT, the pilot can request 30 minutes from CRS to decide to accept or decline the offer. The 30 minutes may be granted if time allows. If the showtime is within 1:30 hours, the pilot must accept or reject the offer upon notification. (1999 CBA Appendix C, Reassignment Trip Offer)

• If a RAT is declined, the pilot is placed into Substitution for the original trip. (25.H.10.b.ii.)
• If a RAT is accepted, the pilot will be paid the higher of the trip guarantee of the original assigned trip at straight pay or the trip guarantee of the RAT at 125% pay. (4.M.1.)
• RAT assignments are not eligible for disruptions as described in Section 25.S.2. or extra duty periods as described in 25.V
• A pilot may trade a RAT, but will only receive the trip guarantee for the trip(s) assumed from the trade. (25.H.10.b.iii.)
• If, after accepting a RAT, a pilot calls sick for the RAT, the pilot is compensated the trip guarantee for the RAT at straight pay.  The Company will deduct the same value from pilot’s sick bank. (4.M.3.)

For a Substitution Decision Tree involving RAT, click here.

Please contact fedex-enforcement@alpa.org if you have any contract concerns.

Section 25.C.10. (Bidding during Consolidation) was added in the bargaining of the 2015 CBA.  There are bidding limitations which apply if you are:

• Bidding a line after your first full bid period post-activation, and
• Did not have a custom line in the first full bid period after your activation
• Not projected for a timely consolidation (using one projected-accrued block hour per remaining non-extension consolidation day)

Do you know the timeframe for filing a grievance? (20.B. – Filing of Grievance)

• A grievance must be filed with the Company within 60 days following the date the pilot gained knowledge of the event that is the issue of the grievance.
• The 60-day period shall be extended to 90 days, if the pilot has written evidence within the 60 days that he or she tried to resolve the issue with flight management or FedEx Labor Relations during the same 60-day period.
• A grievance may be filed beyond the 60-day limit:
  • if the grievance arises from a bookkeeping or clerical error, that does not involve a dispute of the Company’s interpretation or application of agreements between ALPA and the Company; and
  • the grievance can be definitively resolved by reference to Company records.

This communication concerns the subject of pilots being payroll deducted due to missing, incorrect or late expense report receipts.  Section 5.A.7. of the Agreement provides that “An expense report shall be submitted within one bid period to document expenses incurred during the preceding bid period.” Likewise,  Section 8.C.5. provides, “Any time an expense is charged to a Company-issued Travel Card, a deviation ticket is purchased, or a deviation expense is incurred, an expense form shall be submitted, with appropriate original receipts (or electronic reproduction thereof)”, and “Such expense form shall be submitted no later than the end of the subsequent bid period.” The Agreement does not contain language to reopen an expense report once it is closed. We encourage all pilots to review and promptly act upon notifications concerning expense report receipts. Below are descriptions of the notifications you will receive if you have not submitted an expense report or if your credit card/ticket expenses have not been classified. Please note that the second notification is essentially the last notification upon which to act as the final notification is a notice of payroll deduction.

• At the end of a bid period, you will receive a notification to remind you of any missing credit card transactions or deviation tickets, or if you have not submitted the expense report for that bid month.
• If you still have missing receipts after the due date of the expense report (end of next bid period), you will receive a second notification.  It will remind you that some of the receipts are still outstanding and a deadline to submit the missing items to avoid payroll deduction.  PLEASE HEED THIS DEADLINE.
• A third and final notification is received if the items were not addressed from the expense report. It will detail the amount that has been submitted for payroll deduction.

PLEASE NOTE, even if you have submitted an expense report, if you still have an outstanding receipt(s) you will receive a notification regarding the missing receipt(s) and a deadline to submit the missing item(s) to avoid payroll deduction.

Even if you think you have submitted your receipt(s) and believe that you are receiving notifications in error, please resolve the matter with Crew Audit prior to the deadline for submitting missing items.

Please contact  fedex-enforcement@alpa.org if you have any CBA questions.

Are you wondering if you keep the deviation bank associated with the removed trip? That depends on why the trip was removed. Listed below are some of the common reasons a trip may be removed from your schedule and whether or not bank monies would remain intact:

A trip is canceled by the Company
Yes, deadhead bank monies remain intact (Section 8.C.2.d).

A trip is revised
Yes. This also falls under Section 8.C.2.d. A comparison is done for the value of the deviation bank at award/assignment versus the value at block-out/actual operation. You are entitled to the higher value.

A trip is removed and you become eligible for Substitution (SUB) assignments
Yes, the Company has changed or revised a trip causing you to become eligible for SUB; the deviation bank monies will remain intact (Section 8.C.2.d). In fact, you’ll keep the bank for the original trip in addition to the bank associated with SUB assignments.

A trip is dropped
No, you won’t keep the bank because the removal of the trip was not due to a change or cancellation by the Company (Section 8.C.2.d).

A trip is Per Diem Only (PDO) bumped
No, if you are bumped you will not keep the bank. The pilot operating the trip earns the deviation credit for the trip (Section 25.L.11.b.iv).

A trip is removed due to calling in sick
If you call in sick prior to a trip, you do not retain the deviation bank. However, if you become ill or are injured during a trip, the Company is required to provide transportation back to your base or residence. Travel costs in this scenario are limited to the cost of returning to base (Section 14.B.4). You will also keep the bank for deadheads operated prior to calling sick on that trip.

A trip is bumped for training
Yes, if bumped from an entire trip, the deadhead monies remain intact (Section 25.U.2).

A trip is bumped by management
Yes, if a management pilot bumps a line pilot from their scheduled trip, the line pilot receives the deviation credit for the trip or portion of the trip removed (Section 9.A.2).

A trip is removed operationally for legality (1-in-7, international buffer, etc)
Yes, you will keep the deviation bank credit for the removed trip (Section 8.C.2.d).

For less common trip removals, retaining deviation bank credits may be dependent on the circumstances and timing of the situation (emergency drop, bereavement, etc).

Please remember that all deadhead travel is classified into two categories, Front/Back-End, and Mid-Trip. For the purpose of deviation bank credit, each category is treated separately.

If you have questions, please contact Contract Enforcement at  fedex-enforcement@alpa.org.

Contract Enforcement recently became aware that pilots may have been denied critical period pay under 4.GG.3. if the applicable landing was an air turn back.  This is an improper denial; however, this pay is not automated and requires the submission of an Insite ticket (paylog).

1. This paragraph applies to all trips, regardless of assignment code, and shall be paid in addition to all other compensation.
2. Critical Period Departures Following flight deck duty that operates anytime in the critical period, if a pilot has an intermediate stop at a facility other than AFW, CDG, EWR, IND, MEM, or OAK (or other like facilities as agreed upon by the SIG), that is greater than 2 but less than 4 hours (from block-in to blockout), the pilot shall be paid 1.5 CH. This event shall not apply to trips that depart base in the critical period and return to base in the same duty period (out and backs).
3. For any duty period that begins in the critical period, a pilot shall be paid 1.5 CH for each landing in excess of 2 in that duty period.
4. For any duty period that begins in the critical period, if a trip departs from base and returns to base in the same duty period, and blocks in after 10:15 LBT, the pilot shall be paid 1.5 CH. 5. For any flight deck duty period that operates in the critical period, and has a flight in excess of 4:30 block hours, the pilot shall be paid 3 CH for each subsequent flight in that duty period.

With the implementation of new portions of the contract for Secondary Line Holders, we wanted to send a bidding reminder out to help best guide you through the bidding process.

Vacation:

• 12.D.1.d. – The international duty-free buffers (24 hours before the start of a trip, and 48 hours after the end of a trip) are not waivable for vacation for trips that exceed 120 TAFB.
• 7.E.2.c. – Sliding vacation to within 48 hours of the scheduled end of a trip in which the last activity is an international duty period does not apply to EUR trips operated within domestic parameters.
  • ANC 11, HKG, IND, LAX, & MEM 11, 57, 67 ONLY
    • Vacation Slides
      • You may slide your vacation once as normal during the View/Add Window.
      • A Secondary Line Holder may slide the vacation again during the SWW.

Training:

• Recurrent and R-days
  • ANC (Excluding), CGN, & MEM (Excluding 11, 57, 67)
    • As of now, you must split the block of R-days with at least 2 days on either side of your recurrent training for your full block of R-days to drop.
      • Example: You have R-days from the 7th-13th. Your recurrent training cannot start earlier than the 9th or must end by the 11th for your full block of R-days to drop.
  • ANC 11, HKG, IND, LAX, & MEM 11, 57, 67 ONLY
    • 25.C.12.f. has been implemented. If a recurrent training session conflicts with any portion of a block of R-days, the entire block shall be dropped as a phase-in conflict.
• 11.E.1.i. – Prior to and upon completion of ground school or SIM training, a pilot shall receive a minimum of 12 hours off.
• 25.F.4. – International duty-free buffers may be waived to avoid a phase-in conflict.

It is our understanding that in June and July some pilots (fewer than 100) had Lufthansa (LH) flights incorrectly purchased as non-refundable due to an incorrect code entered by LH. Global Travel cancelled all non-refundable tickets that had not been used and re-issued them as fully refundable. If a LH ticket had already been used, Crew Audit may have disallowed the ticket on your expense reports prior to being aware of the issue. If you had a LH ticket purchased in June or July on your expense report and it was denied due to it being a non-refundable ticket, file a discrepancy and the issue will be reviewed and corrected.