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FDX Return from long term MLA

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FDX Return from long term MLA

Old 04-22-2014, 04:32 AM
  #41  
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Rogair,

That may be the way it's handled, I really have no idea. I will say its difficult finding open time to fill 70 hour trips, but make up time lasts until you retire. I was actually just curious how this worked as finding an answer is more difficult than it seems.

I was more concerned with pensionable earnings though. It does seem it should be included.
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:28 AM
  #42  
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Short term or long term MLA are treated identically for B fund purposes
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:40 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by kronan View Post
Short term or long term MLA are treated identically for B fund purposes
I don't think so, but correct me if I'm wrong.

If you take short term ML (one month for example) your trips get dropped into your make up bank. You get no B fund for that month. When you fly those make up hours, you will get B fund paid as any other trip would.

When you take long term ML (one year for example) you don't have any trips to drop into make up because you don't bid while away. When you return, the company averages your monthly credit for the year prior to your ML year and funds your B fund based on that. Example: 2011 you average 75hrs/mo. 2012 you go on mil LV. In jan 2013, company puts 75hrs x 12mos of B fund contributions in your acct lump sum.
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:45 AM
  #44  
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Don't have time to post a complete message, but....you get B fund contributions on every MLA....short or long term. Check your Vanguard and you'll see these contributions listed as MLA post approximately 90 days (limit by court cases) after your MLA return.

What posters above have said is the way it was about 8 years ago, but LOA was signed and fix this formerly incorrect way FedEx was doing it.
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Old 04-22-2014, 09:07 PM
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Originally Posted by kronan View Post
Short term or long term MLA are treated identically for B fund purposes
Kronan is right. And, your short and long term MLA drops ARE counted towards your high 5 earnings...all the rest below just expands on these two points.

I'll update my recent post. I know that FedEx for years just put short-term MLA drops into one's makeup bank....and that was it, no B fund contribution. I believe it was about 8 years ago that the company and ALPA drew up an LOA (due to many complaints by the military/FedEx pilots) that corrected this improper implementation of USERRA. The look back was 7 years from the ratification of the LOA. The company had been paying Long Term MLA correctly into the B fund, and this LOA fixed the Short Term MLA B-fund payout looking back 7 years. I checked mine and several other pilots, and these payouts were correct and interest was paid. I can't find this LOA at the moment, but the CBA now incorporates language that makes this clear: that any MLA drop of a trip provides a B fund contribution.

Section 25.X.2:
A pilot whose service period conflicts with an already scheduled
flight activity shall have those activities dropped without pay and
eligible for make-up. B-plan contributions shall be made to the
pilots for service period conflicts as if those hours were flown by the
pilot.

Log into your Vanguard account, select Employer Plans link, select Federal Express Corp Pilot's Money Purchase Pension Plan, and in the Plan Details tab at top, select the History/Statements/Forms link when it expands. On this page, select View By: Source, and to the right of that View History from: select the time period you want. You will see your history and you're looking for transaction description of Plan Contribution and the source will be Military LOA MPPA. These are your B fund contributions from MLA dropped trips. You will have these funds deposited at a maximum of 90 days from the trip you MLA dropped. You can take a look at the amount of deposit and it should match 7% of your dropped trip's pay (6% prior to 2011 CBA). If you have any questions or think there is a discrepancy, call Vanguard at 1-800-523-1188. They can provide you a history of trips dropped, imputed pay, contribution made, etc. (They have to contact the company to get all this, but they have a direct contact and easily get this information on your behalf.) They are a great resource if you have any questions, they know what's going on, and they will get answers for you.

Another question that arises a lot is whether or not these MLA dropped trips are pensionable earnings. Semantically speaking, they are not really pensionable earnings as you didn't receive them in a paycheck...and you really don't want them to be pensionable "pay" as you would get ALPA dues taken out of them among other things. What these "phantom" earnings from dropped trips are is "imputed" earnings. The imputed earnings from these trips (Trip Guarantee Credit hours x Pay Rate) is what is used to calculate your B-fund contribution, and they are also imputed earnings that count towards your high 5. (At least these imputed earnings were counted 8 years ago towards high 5, but FedEx also paid out RSA on long-term MLA 8 years ago and apparently that's changed at present from what some people have posted?) So, I don't have confirmed information on that and if someone does, please post. What I can tell you is that the CBA 28.B.3 says:

Final average earnings will be defined as the average of the highest
five calendar years of compensation while working for the Company.
In no event shall total final average earnings taken into account
under the Pension Plan, the Compensation Limit Plan and the 415
Limit Plan exceed $260,000.

I can't find where the CBA says what constitutes a calendar year of compensation, but the Pilot Benefit Book is quite clear that MLA dropped trips do count towards a calendar year compensation per page R-80 of the January 2013 version of the PBB:

Hours of Service
Hours of service include each hour that you are paid or entitled to pay by FedEx
Express, including time off for vacation, holidays, paid medical absences, jury duty or
military duty as required by law. (emphasis added)
Hours associated with non-taxable amounts paid from a Pilot’s Occupational Illness/
Injury Sick Bank shall be counted as hours of service for eligibility, vesting and benefit
accrual.
This does not include hours you are paid or entitled to pay just to comply with:
• Unemployment compensation laws,
• Workers’ Compensation laws*
• Disability insurance laws
• Payment made for medical expense reimbursement or
• Service during hours of family medical leaves (except the first 501 hours that are
used to prevent a one-year break in service).
Hours credited by the Payroll Department are used in determining credited service
while actively at work. The Payroll Department credits active pilots with 95 hours per
pay periods.

Pilots receive credited service for periods of disability* which are calculated as
follows:
Days of Leave ÷ 7 Days x 45 Hours = Total Credited Hours per Leave

If you have information you are not being credited with the imputed pay value of your MLA dropped trips towards your high 5, please let me know and I will gather information as this issue is clear cut, I believe.

Page R-7 of the PBB tells us that to accrue a good year for pension purposes, we must have 1000 hours (not flight hours, but the assumed 95 hours a month minimum). USERRA protects your longevity towards pension (i.e. work 5 years at FedEx, take 3 years of MLA, you return and you WILL have 8 years of service at FedEx for retirement purposes, you'll be on 8 year pay, you'll have vacation at the year 8 amount, etc.). This page also tells us that MLA absences (short or long) count towards retirement, so we are "doubly" protected:

Credited Service
Your years of credited service are used to determine your Plan eligibility, benefit
amount and vesting.
Year of Credited Service —
You earn one year of credited service for each Plan Year

(June 1 through May 31) in which you have been credited with at least 1,000 hours of
service.
Hours of Service —
Hours of service include each hour that you are paid or entitled

to pay by any Controlled Group Member, including time off for vacation, holidays,
paid medical absences, jury duty or military duty as required by law. Hours associated
with non-taxable amounts paid from a Pilot’s Occupational Illness/Injury Sick Bank
shall be counted as hours of service for eligibility, vesting and benefit accrual.
This does not include hours you are paid or entitled to pay just to comply with:
• Unemployment compensation laws,
• Disability insurance laws,
• Payment made for medical expense reimbursement, or
• Service during hours of family medical leaves (except the first 501 hours, which
may be used to prevent a one-year break in service). See “Breaks in Service” for
more information.
Hours credited by the Payroll Department are used in determining credited service
while actively at work. The Payroll Department credits pilots with 95 hours per pay
period. Pilots receive credited hours of service for periods of disability, subject to the
provisions discussed below. Hours of credited service for disability leave periods are
calculated as follows: Days of Leave ÷ 7 Days x 45 Hours = Total Credited Hours per
Leave.

One of the best ways to get a comfort level (and it's always wise to double check complicated stuff) that short and long term MLA is counted towards your high 5 properly is to call the FedEx Retirement Service Center at 1-866-303-0556 and ask for "a statement of your estimated accrued pension benefit". The information is updated each year as of May 31st on the FedEx fiscal year (although the pension information is based on the calendar year), so it may take awhile to see these numbers. Cross check your paycheck with your MLA imputed earnings from dropped trips, and these should match. I've never asked them specifically for imputed earnings information, and if someone finds they can provide this, please let me know and I'll update this post.

Last, remember that USERRA protects you and you deserve the benefits and protections from it because you put your life on the line in service to our country. Some people drop trips to avoid the perceived spotlight on them instead of using MLA when appropriate. If you don't use MLA on your trips, you lose the benefit of B-fund make up and compensation additions to your high 5 earnings from the imputed earnings of dropped trips.
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Old 04-23-2014, 06:30 AM
  #46  
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To clarify, when I look at all of my previous history and choose source as you suggest, the only source that lists is "money purchase plan account". Should it show "Military LOA MPPA"? I haven't done the math to figure out if the correct amounts are being put in. I should probably do that I guess. Thanks.
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Old 04-23-2014, 07:46 AM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by C-130Driver View Post
To clarify, when I look at all of my previous history and choose source as you suggest, the only source that lists is "money purchase plan account". Should it show "Military LOA MPPA"? I haven't done the math to figure out if the correct amounts are being put in. I should probably do that I guess. Thanks.
I can definitely speak to what I see in my own account on the Vanguard website, but my experiences are "old" compared to what's going on now so there may be differences? And, since I can't see back more than 7 years on the Vanguard site, I can't see the initial contributions from my MLA to see what they are listed as. I had thought Military LOA stood for "Leave of Absence" and therefore everyone should see it this way. Perhaps, LOA stands for "Letter of Agreement" it this line entry from Vanguard was the input due to the letter of agreement that fixed the short-term MLA B-fund contributions years ago. Does anyone have any information they could post here?

I'd call Vanguard at the number I posted above and ask them to provide you a listing of your plan contributions by source in your Federal Express Corp Pilot's Money Purchase Plan so you could verify the B-fund contributions were being made correctly from your MLA trip drops.

The other thing I'd check...did you select near the top: View History from: .........the proper date look back to capture your last MLA drops?
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Old 04-23-2014, 08:24 AM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by C-130Driver View Post
To clarify, when I look at all of my previous history and choose source as you suggest, the only source that lists is "money purchase plan account". Should it show "Military LOA MPPA"? I haven't done the math to figure out if the correct amounts are being put in. I should probably do that I guess. Thanks.
I called Vanguard. What I told you is correct that Military LOA MPPA is the code for individual contributions from your short and long term MLA drops.

You can use the method I told you about in my long post above to look at your individual contributions. To recap: home page, balances tab click on Employer plans link. New overview screen comes up, click on Federal Express Corp Pilot's Money Purchase Plan link near center of page. At top of this page, mouse over Plan Details and select History/Statements/Forms. In the Transactions tab (which should be the open one by default), select View By: Source, and View History from: Last X Years. On this page, in the gray header boxes that say left to right: date, transaction description, source, and transaction amount...click on source so the little arrow after source point up and this will filter your results so you see all your Military LOA MPPA. Now look at the left side and you can see from newest to oldest your dates and transaction descriptions. When you see a transaction description of Plan Contribution, that's when FedEx deposited 7% MLA B-fund payments for your MLA dropped trips.

This process is automatic, so if you're not seeing anything, something is wrong. First, take a look on pilot.fedex.com in VIPS--Activities--
Bank Activities area. You used to be able to look at MLA drops here, but I no longer have that on the drop down list (is it because I don't have MLA anymore, or it's not an option for anybody anymore?) As a work around if you can't select MLA as a Bank type, look at General Make-Up Bank. Select the year you want to look at and hit Submit. Look at the CNL column and the reason code of MLA should show up for MLA drops. Use this information of MLA dropped trips into your general make up bank to correlate with your Vanguard information of Military LOA MPPA using the method I listed above (multiply your credit hours times your pay rate times 0.07). This only works for short-term MLA drops while an active pilot because if you are on long-term MLA, you're not dropping specific trips into your general make-up bank. You'd have to do more research with crew pay data to make sure your long-term MLA B-fund contributions were made correctly.

If you're not seeing MLA codes in your general make up bank and you've dropped trips using MLA, then something's wrong as the CBA specifies this is what will happen. It's this coding that causes the automatic process of the deposit into Vanguard PMPP 90 days after the trip drop.

One last thing about the Vanguard site. If you want to look at the overall picture and not the specific dates and types of transactions to see your Military LOA information when you mouse over plan details, select Investments instead. On the page that comes up, the default is View By: Fund, select Source of Contribution instead. You will see Military LOA MPPA as a separate entry if you've ever had any MLA drops that caused a B-fund contribution at Vanguard.
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Old 04-24-2014, 04:02 AM
  #49  
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Great info!! Thanks!
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