The referenced ALPA document arrived overnight in my email. I'll paste it after my short perspective. It's the first publication from the MEC/negotiator level that deviates from cheering about pay rates while ignoring their self-funded nature and the concessions required to attain them. It signifies that the sick leave issue is one of the most talked about elements by TA detractors. I challenge anyone to read the Notepad in its entirety, and come away feeling good about the proposed sick policy. While the text attempts to paint most pilots as part of the "good guys team" versus the 20 percent or so who are assumed to be utilizing sick leave in a questionable manner, the hard core facts presented should scare anyone who has had to use or can foresee ever needing to use a significant amount of sick leave.
This little tidbit alone should get your attention: if you have called-in sick in the past two weeks or so, you are already serving Delta under a concessionary, onerous work rule (in the event the TA is ratified):
"The Company expects to be ready to fully implement the new sick leave items by the end of the year. In the interim, the look back periods for both the verification and medical release thresholds will look back no further than the beginning of the current sick leave year, June 1, 2015."
Really? We haven't even had a chance to fully absorb the TA yet, but it has already impacted our work environment. A policy that causes trepidation toward utilizing sick benefits has no place in a safety sensitive environment. It also ignores the realities of human life. Not only is the sick leave proposal concessionary and unreasonable, it takes a lot of nerve to put it into effect over two weeks ago.
Here is a copy of the Notepad, with my apologies for the inevitable format issues that come with a cut-and-paste:
This document is also available on the Delta MEC website, http://dal.alpa.org.
15-04
June 16, 2015
Contract 2015 – Sick Leave
This Negotiators’ Notepad will cover the details of the sick leave portions of the tentative agreement recently approved for membership ratification by the MEC. This Notepad should be read in conjunction with the entire series of Notepads as you educate yourself in preparation to make an informed decision when the membership ratification window opens.
Why make changes to our Sick Leave program?
Senior executives briefed the MEC numerous times this year regarding their concerns about the rate of increased sick leave usage since implementation of the C2012 contract. They also made it clear that this was a very high priority issue for them in these negotiations. Because of this, ALPA reviewed the Company’s data and then conducted an independent analysis of sick leave usage at Delta and around the industry. That data showed that sick leave usage at Delta has increased about 30% since 2012. The statistics also showed that a small number of pilots, about 20%, use over 50% of the sick leave hours. In addition, this group of high users has dramatically grown in size since 2012. The data, however, showed no statistical difference that could explain the increased usage. Some of the categories we looked at were age, seniority, base, aircraft, international versus domestic, and captain versus first officer.
Like the pilots at Delta, our peers in the industry are also getting older and experiencing many of the same health issues that we all experience. However, their sick leave usage has essentially been flat since 2011. Given this information, our goal was to minimize the impact of sick leave changes to the vast majority of pilots.
Sick Leave, what has not changed?
Before getting into what has changed, it’s important to note the many provisions in this section that remain unchanged:
· The accrual and total number of sick leave hours available to each pilot, every year, is exactly the same under this TA as we have today (50 – 270 hours, depending upon years of service)
· The ability to recover a portion of sick leave hours used by picking up a trip and using “fly-back”
· A pilot is not required to state the nature of his illness to Crew Scheduling
· The Company cannot use the good faith basis to require verification based solely on the amount of sick leave used or the frequency of the sick occurrences
· Although some procedures in regard to when a medical release may be required have changed, the release itself continues to be limited to only the specific absence in question and the days immediately around it. This medical release does not now, nor does this agreement require, a general release of a pilot’s medical records.
Changes affecting Sick Leave
The following items have been changed from our current sick leave program:
“Doctor” definition is changed to Qualified Health Care Professional (QHCP) to include additional professions (see below for further details)
If verification is required, a new QHCP certificate will be the only means to verify a sickness
· Voluntary verification has been eliminated
· “Other proof of illness” has been eliminated
· Verification modifications:
The Chief Pilot and Pilot Support Center are now out of the verification process
§ Verification from a pilot’s QHCP will now be reviewed by the Director - Health Services (DHS)
o Rather than using an “hours” metric, we will switch to a “work days” metric
§ Verification required at 15 or more work days missed in a rolling 365 days
§ Medical release may be required at 24 or more work days missed in a rolling 365 days or 56 work days missed in 1095 days (3 years)
· Rotations dropped due to sick leave will now count toward FAR limits as if you had flown the rotation for purposes of initial trip coverage for WS or GS assignments
· Established up to 60 days of FAA Leave for use when the medical certificate of a pilot on active payroll status expires awaiting FAA processing
· A portion of unused sick hours will now go into a new “Disability Account” for future use
Qualified Health Care Professional (QHCP) vs. “Doctor”
A QHCP is basically the same as the prior definition of physician but expands the list of qualified individuals to include Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN), those holding the certified Physician Assistant (PA-C) designations, and individuals holding a PhD who are credentialed as licensed clinical psychologists. A pilot must have a bona fide doctor-patient relationship with the QHCP. For example, a pilot’s spouse who is also an MD would not constitute a bona fide doctor-patient relationship for purposes of providing a QHCP certificate. Furthermore, a QHCP certificate must be from an actual QHCP with whom you have personal contact. While a pilot is always free to use a web-based and online service, like the Now Clinic, those are not acceptable for verification under the PWA. And finally, a QHCP certificate must provide a description of a pilot’s sickness and an estimated return to work date. “Other proof of illness” has been eliminated, making the QHCP certificate the only acceptable means of satisfying the verification requirements.
From Sick Hours to Missed Work Days
With this agreement, the verification threshold will no longer be based on hours but will now be based on missed work days. Work days are defined as:
a) all days of a rotation preceding the day the final duty period began,
b) the day the final duty period in a rotation began,
c) an on-call day,
d) a training day,
e) a day that includes an SLI duty period, and
f) a day on which Company business is performed other than as a flight crewmember.
There are also some important exclusions that require closer examination (see below – Verification and Medical Release Exclusions).
The 100-hour threshold affects pilots differently today. A reserve pilot uses less sick hours per day and a regular pilot uses more sick hours per day, some pilots, a lot more per day. While admittedly no system is perfect, we believe that this is a better approach. With this system a missed work day is the same for everyone.
Verification and Medical Release Requirements
Verification would now be required under three circumstances: (1) the existence of a good-faith basis to question the appropriateness of sick leave usage; (2) a single sick occurrence lasting 15 calendar days; or (3) reaching the sick verification threshold. Both the "good-faith basis" and the 15 consecutive calendar day single sick occurrence carry over from the current PWA.
The 15 consecutive calendar day single sick occurrence has, however, been clarified so that any days off following a pilot’s sickness are not necessarily counted towards the 15 consecutive calendar day requirement. A pilot is now deemed well following a rotation or block of consecutive on-call days for which he has called in sick. The TA removes any ambiguity and makes clear that a pilot who reports for his next assignment (e.g., on-call days, rotation, or training) will not have the immediately preceding off days count against him. If, on the other hand, the pilot is unable to report for that next assignment, the intervening off days between the sick call and the subsequent assignment will count toward the 15 consecutive calendar day single sick occurrence if both absences were due to the same illness.
In addition to these two existing requirements, a pilot who reaches the verification threshold of 15 missed work days in a rolling 365 days is now required to verify the sickness. This verification threshold replaces the 100-hour verification requirement from our current PWA and there is no longer an option for a pilot to voluntary verify a sickness below the 15 missed work days threshold. Thus, verification of sickness will only occur when one of the three triggers is met. To be clear, for pilots who miss less than 15 work days in 365 days, the changes to the verification threshold will not impact you. Based on the data from the last three years, approximately two-thirds of Delta pilots have missed fewer than 15 days of work in a year. And that two-thirds number increases significantly if we look at pilot sick leave statistics at Delta over a longer time period. In the end, more than two-thirds of the pilots should not have to verify their sickness.
A medical release may now be required when a pilot reaches 24 or more missed work days in a rolling 365 day period, or if a pilot reaches 56 or more missed work days in a rolling 1095 day (3-year) period. This level of sick usage is more than twice the annual average and 1.5 times the rolling 3-year average. The medical release itself is unchanged from the current contract. It is limited to the specific sick occurrence, and not a general release of your medical records. Based on current sick leave usage, less than 15% of our pilot group will ever need to complete a medical release.
Verification and Medical Release Exclusions
Importantly, there are a number of exclusions to missed work days due to sickness that do not count towards the verification or medical release thresholds. When a pilot goes on disability the missed work days in the previous 365 days are eliminated from the number of missed work days, as are sick days used after FAA leave (see below).
Missed work days due to a verified sick absence in excess of 20 consecutive calendar days that include surgery, hospitalization, or fractured bones making one unable to exercise his medical certificate are excluded from the verification and medical release threshold triggers. Additionally, a pilot may voluntarily provide a medical release for other serious medical conditions to have missed work days from a verified sick absence in excess of 20 consecutive days exempted from the thresholds. This medical release is completely at the pilot’s option. So a pilot who, for example, experiences an extended sick leave of absence or a disability will not have it trigger future verification or medical release requirements. The Company will notify a pilot who is required to verify his sickness, and a pilot may track his sick leave use and work days missed in DBMS.
If required, verification must be submitted within 21 days of first calling in sick. However, the Company may extend that time period if a pilot is unable to schedule an appointment with a QHCP. Failure to submit timely verification may result in loss of sick leave pay or a trip to the CPO. The Chief Pilot’s involvement is now limited to ensuring contractual compliance, not to dealing with the pilot’s medical issue.
Calling in Well No Longer Required
A pilot is no longer required to call in well following a sick absence but may do so at his option. Instead, the pilot will now be assumed fit for the start of his next rotation or on-call days. This change, which is more consistent with practices at most other airlines, will, as a whole, be less burdensome to a pilot. No longer do you need to worry about whether you’ve remembered to call in well. Also, a reserve pilot can simply notify the Company that he will be out for 3 days (for example) of his 5-day block of on-call periods.
In exchange for the benefit of not having to call in well, the responsibility is on you to call the Company again if you remain sick for your next rotation or on-call days. If the pilot, at his discretion, elects to call in well, he may then make himself available to serve the remainder of his reserve on-call days, or in the case of a regular pilot, to utilize the sick fly back provisions of the PWA. A pilot who actually utilizes sick fly back will avoid using sick hours and will not incur additional days of work missed for purposes of the verification threshold. As it is today, sick fly back remains at the pilot's option.
Director - Heath Services Department
The new agreement requires that all verifications of sickness be submitted to a department run by the Director - Health Services. This department and new process will help ensure the confidentiality of the medical information by receiving and maintaining verifications in a manner that ensures appropriate privacy safeguards. Delta currently has a Director of Health Services (DHS) who is an AME. This agreement makes no change to that. He now will be tasked with receiving and reviewing the verification of sickness.
FAR Limits
A pilot who calls in sick will now be treated as if he had operated his rotation for purposes of initially determining whether he may be assigned a rotation via a White Slip (WS), Green Slip (GS), or Green Slip with Conflict (GSWC). As exists today, WS requests will be processed separately from GS requests. If flying his original rotation, for which he called in sick, would have made him illegal to be awarded his WS (or GS, GSWC), all other pilots in that assignment step with a WS (or GS, GSWC) request will be considered first. However, if no other pilots are awarded the rotation via WS (or GS, GSWC), the pilot who called in sick may be awarded the rotation.
FAA Leave
This TA also establishes FAA leave. Currently, a pilot on active payroll status awaiting the processing of his medical certificate by the FAA is required to use his sick leave. Under this agreement, he now has a maximum of 60 days of FAA leave separate from his sick leave. This leave is paid the same as sick leave, does not count as missed work days for either the verification or medical release threshold, and is not counted toward his sick leave hours. Additionally, if the pilot uses sick days subsequent to the exhaustion of his 60 days of FAA leave while awaiting the processing of his medical, these days also do not count toward any threshold.
Disability Account
Beginning with our current sick leave year (2015/2016), a pilot who uses less than 80 hours of sick leave in the sick leave year will have 50% of his unused sick hours below 80 hours (up to 40 hours in any single, completed sick leave year) credited to a new disability account. This new account will allow a pilot who goes on disability to extend his period of full pay before dropping to 50% on disability pay only. A pilot would be eligible to use hours in his disability account to provide “enhanced disability benefits”. For example, if a pilot has 80 hours in his account, he would be eligible to receive 40 hours of pay at his current rate on top of his LTD benefit upon exhaustion of the DPMA benefit.
Implementation
The Company expects to be ready to fully implement the new sick leave items by the end of the year. In the interim, the look back periods for both the verification and medical release thresholds will look back no further than the beginning of the current sick leave year, June 1, 2015. That means any missed work days prior to June 1st will not count toward any thresholds. The 365-day metric will grow from that point as will the 1095-day metric. For example, if the new program is fully implemented on December 1, 2015 the initial look back will only be the number of missed work days since June 1, 2015. It will continue to grow until the 365-day point is reached and then will begin a rolling 365-day look back. The same will occur with the 1095-day metric.
The requirement to verify sick above 100 hours will cease on the date of signing (DOS) of this agreement. Additionally, voluntary verification will no longer be accepted after DOS, since it will not impact any thresholds going forward. However, the requirement to verify after being absent on a single sick occurrence for 15 or more consecutive days will continue since it is part of the current PWA and is unchanged in this TA. These verifications should be from a QHCP to allow pilots to establish their ability to use the exceptions for 20 or more consecutive missed work days in this TA when all the changes are incorporated. The “good faith basis”, since it is part of the current PWA and the TA, will also remain in effect.
If a pilot exceeds any of the missed work day thresholds prior to full implementation, verification or medical release will only be required for any subsequent sick event after full implementation.
Conclusion
Please take the time to read the entire series of Notepads, share the material with your families, attend one of the road shows, and ask as many questions as you need to ask.
The Delta Pilot Network call center will be manned throughout the pilot ratification process and DPN volunteers will have direct access to members of the Negotiating Committee to provide answers to all your questions in a timely manner.
Our sick leave program is a valuable benefit to our entire pilot group and should be protected. Your Negotiating Committee believes this modified program continues to be the best sick leave program in the industry and protects the core benefits of our current program for all Delta pilots. As such, we recommend you vote in favor of ratifying C2015.
Delta MEC Negotiating Committee
John Morgado, Matt Coons, Kevin Powell
Air Line Pilots Association, International
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