The leverage that the company is trying to use lies in the following:

23.S.5. A long call pilot:
b. must be able to report for an assigned rotation which reports no earlier than 12 hours from the first attempted contact by Crew Scheduling.
c. must be able to report for a rotation within 12 hours of first attempted contact for conversion to short call.

What SD was basically saying in his letter was this - if you don't acknowledge your assignment outside the 10 hour window then you are no longer "able to report for an assigned rotation" and are therefore in violation of 23.S.5.b. So even if you follow the contractual acknowledgement guidance to the letter, you can still be in violation of the contract :eek:

At first blush, I was thinking ALPA had the leverage here. Now, I'm not so sure :(

Yes my rep and CA were fully engaged but unable to positively affect the outcome other than to recommend "go back to the doctor and convince him to write something other than "sick visit."

When I reminded them that the doctor was unwilling to list any specific medical reason on the sick leave verification form due to his [possibly unfounded] fear over HIPPA law implications, my rep and CA suggested I should find another doctor.

It was only once I spoke to a assistant chief pilot, on my own, that I was able to find an end to the madness...

Quite frankly the whole process left me feeling like I worked for American, not Delta...

Again the best takeaway suggestion/advice came from the CP office: Pre-fill out the entire sick leave verification form and just have the doctor sign it...

Cheers
George

DAPLA codified the sick leave harassment program in the last TA. They have no obligation to help you. I overheard a CP complaining about the list he gets EVERY MORNING of pilots he has to call over this. DALPA has washed their hands of this in C2012. It's all on you now. And a reminder to anyone being harassed... besides calling your reps (now basically a useless exercise) make a call to the FAA and explain the trouble the company is giving you about calling in sick. If something happens out on the line, and you are sick, at least you'll have that to fall back on.

Honestly, we need to just allow pilots to bank their sick days...problem solved!
Much easier than this goat rope sick leave verification shenanigans.
I thought that was supposed to have been eliminated in C2012?

Not every sick leave requires a doctor's visit, so how is that supposed to be "verified"?

Hoser,
My follow on experience was basically the same as georgetq's with Contract Admin. and my Rep. After 24+ yrs I just shake my head and wonder why we keep going around in circles?

Been reading the early press on Windows 9. It appears to be the not too distant (approximately 9 months from now) the end for RT. By extrapolation, that will be the end of the Surface 2 and any future versions which run on RT. Windows phone will be the new ARM platform and in as much as possible, Windows 9 will be a single solution across PC's, game consoles, media devices, phones and tablets.

ASUS, Nokia already announced they're out of RT, followed by Samsung, Lenovo, Asus, and Dell. NVIDIA, Qualcomm and ARM are still in the game, but can shift towards phones and the much, much, (like 50 times) larger Android market. Then there is the effect of Intel's Haswell product ... who even needs a reduced instruction set architecture? Haswell runs as fast as anything that plugs into a power plant and still gets 10+ hour battery life while remaining cool.

Anyone willing to take a bet on whether and when the Surface 2 EFB gets pulled? If they'd pony up for any non-RT device (Surface Pro 2 if they want to remain with Microsoft, Apple if they want to use what's already proven) this thing would be running reliably in a week. Everybody writes software for that.

Android was always a better choice from a flexibility, security, bang / buck perspective, or Apple from a user interface + quality view. If it had been me, I'd have picked a Linux platform which would run on about any device ... (anyone got Jim Whitehurst's number, how's he doin' at RedHat?)

That appears to be in conflict with the requirements under Section 23.S.1 -

[A Reserve pilot will - ]

be required to check his schedule via DBMS or VRU:

1) after block-in of the last flight segment of his rotation prior to his release (see Section 12 G. 13. – 14.), and
2) no later than 0200 base time on his first on-call day following a non-fly day, so as to be able to acknowledge:

a) any assignment no later than three hours before a scheduled report of the rotation or start of a short call period, or

b) the start of a rest period.

Exception one: If such last non-fly day ends at a time other than 2400, the pilot will check his schedule no later than two hours after the end of such non-fly day. Exception two: For purposes of Section 23 S 1. d. 2), a non-fly day will not include a day on which the pilot is on vacation.

I completely agree. If it weren't for the legion of pilots saying "but guys will fly sick", as if they aren't now, then maybe it'd have a shot in the next contract. Hopefully people will realize that this is possibly the most onerous contractual provision we've ever seen at Delta, and push for change. I'm not holding my breath, though, after the sales job DALPA gave us on this particular section... they seem to really like the fact that they no longer have to represent pilots with sick leave issues. More money for oil paintings I guess. I'd prefer a FedEx type of program, where your unused hours can purchase days off, be rolled into 401K, or just paid out. You earned it, after all!

Interesting. The last brief from the company mentioned that there would be a 2 year product renewal cycle, but that doesn't seem to be helpful in this particular situation. Do you think an Android platform would be secure enough?

Maybe Check Essential could fill us in on the details of how we get out from under the grievance process and just take these rascals to Fulton State Court? I'd love to get these so called managers in front of a jury to discuss how a guy who does not take prescriptions of any kind all of a sudden goes to a Doc, gets prescribed antibiotics and somehow is not verifiably "sick." Ask which member of a jury would like to fly back to Atlanta on a red eye knowing the "sick" guy is going to make the landing and will be doing so solo if the other pilot has a medical issue.