NAGE Legal Victory Nets Member $25,000 in Back Pay
June 17, 2009
After 6 years of appeals, a retired NUWC (Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Newport, RI) employee and FUSE (Local R1-144) member will be receiving more than $25,000 in back pay and interest after NUWC incorrectly revoked hundreds of hours of restored Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) leave from the employee before he retired. NAGE Deputy General Counsel Jean Zeiler worked with FUSE leaders to bring this case to justice.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) ruled that the former employee must be paid back, with the interest, the 605 hours of leave that the Navy erroneously took from him. The final amount could total $30,000 or more.
The retiree in this case said, "People at NUWC need to realize that the union is there for them, and will always be there, no matter how long it takes. We can't give up when we're right, because the Navy never gives up, even when they're wrong."
The story began in 2003 when NUWC revoked thousands of hours of restored leave from hundreds of employees who were transferred to Newport from New London (Conn.) in 1996, following the closure of the New London lab during BRAC 1995.
Hundreds of New London employees forfeited their leave during the BRAC process due to work requirements, and much of their leave was restored by NUWC and carried over from 1996 through 2003.
In 2003, an audit revealed that NUWC was violating the law by allowing these employees to carry their leave over for more than 2 years. The problem was, NUWC had failed to inform the employees that they had to use their restored leave within the 2-year timeframe, and had actually told employees that they could carry over their restored leave indefinitely. Unfortunately for the employees, NUWC was wrong.
Due to management's errors, more than 400 employees and retirees lost leave totaling approximately 28,000 hours—worth well over $1 million. FUSE immediately filed a class action grievance on behalf of all employees represented by FUSE who had lost leave.
NUWC management rejected the union's grievance and forced the local to go to arbitration. FUSE won at arbitration in 2006, but NUWC appealed to the FLRA.
FUSE, NAGE, and several of the affected employees also began lobbying local members of Congress to pass legislation to allow former New London employees who were transferred to Newport to carry over their restored leave past the 2-year time limit.
In November 2003, Congress passed a law mirroring the union's request. Due to the hard work of FUSE and NAGE, as well as several diligent employees and retirees (including the retiree who will soon receive more than $25,000 in back pay), Congress actually solved the problem for the majority of the affected employees.
After 6 years of hard work and costly litigation, the FLRA's decision http://www.flra.gov/decisions/v63/63-085.html finally restores the last remaining retiree's lost leave, totaling 605 hours.