Originally Posted by
ancman
The contract doesn’t place any limitations on the reason for a GFB, other than amount of sick used and frequency of occurrences. About 3 years ago, when GFB use was hitting its highest levels, pilot leaves had a lengthy list of “reasons” to issue a GFB. Sick within a week of a holiday, sick before / after a long period of time off, sick before / after very little time off, sick before / after training, sick before / after vacation, sick after trying to PD a trip (or posting to the swap board), sick after a WS, sick after a GS, sick after a reserve assignment — just to name a few. Virtually any sick call can trigger a contractually valid (in the company’s eyes) reason for a GFB.
They’ve wisely scaled back GFB use since then, but my point stands that as long as we have GFB language in the contract, the company can effectively nullify our lookback / verification requirements (aside from the 50-hour GFB exemption) at any time.
I know a guy a few years ago that got a GFB just because he was sick during Oshkosh Airventure. He had a trip that reported late Thursday afternoon. Walking back to the campground after the night airshow on Wednesday he tripped over a large tie down stake. He hobbled back to the campground and on Thursday morning his foot was twice the size and he couldn't put weight on it or move the ankle. After a visit to the local urgent care he called in sick. He couldn't fly the airplane out of Oshkosh due to the injury so he stayed until Sunday to give it some time to heal. During the day on Friday he received a voicemail which he didn't see until after office hours from the CPO assistant. He called back on Monday and the assistant was irate and the conversation ended with a GFB. He emailed the form to the urgent care physician who was not an MD and they took a few weeks to fill out the form and mail it back with an original signature. I don't think he ever did get paid for the trip and I have no idea if the company accepted the form. I don't think there was any punishment either.