3.05.15d – (LAA/LUS) LDI, Last 5 Days, Implementation Schedule Update, Travel Days for Transfers, LUS Swapping of Positions in ACARS, VC, LAA SK Accrual on Bid Leave

   

March 5, 2015

LAA
Location Delay Incentive and Last Five (5) Days
Currently, LAA Flight Attendants are still covered by the CLA’s Bid Line Guarantee and the Last 5 Days (L5D) pay protection provisions. JCBA pay protections will be implemented as soon as practicable; and, it has been identified as a priority for the Joint Scheduling Implementation Committee.
 
However, a couple of the JCBA’s scheduling-related provisions have already been implemented, such as the Location Delay Incentive (LDI) pay (Sec.14.M.7.).  
 
When the JCBA’s Location Delay Incentive (LDI) pay was implemented on Date-of-Signing, the Company took the position that this pay would measure against the CLA’s L5D pay protection provision. The Company defended its position by citing the following clause in the LDI language that states, in part, “Should greater pay protection be provided through…Last Trip of the Month…the provisions…may be waived to accept the greater pay protection.”
 
While APFA agreed with the intent of the language, we disagreed with the Company’s position on how the CLA’s L5D provision should interact with the JCBA’s LDI provision. The Company’s position implies that the L5D provision and the JCBA’s Last Trip of the Month (LTOM) provision are similar in nature. This notion is simply not the case; in fact, each provision greatly differ in eligibility for pay protection, obligation requirements and extent of pay protection.
 
We are pleased to report that the Company has agreed to pay LDI in addition to L5D until the new JCBA pay protections are implemented for the LAA Flight Attendants, so long as Flight Attendants follow current L5D procedures. Furthermore, the Company has also agreed to retroactively pay all LAA Flight Attendants who were eligible for both provisions in January but were not compensated accordingly. This retroactive pay should be reflected in the end of March paycheck.
 
When the JCBA pay protections are implemented, LAA Flight Attendants will receive the greater of LDI pay or pay protection pay provided through Illegal Through No Fault, Last Trip of the Month or Crew Substitution in accordance with Sec.14.M.7. of the JCBA.
 
LAA / LUS
Implementation Schedule Update
The JNC has secured more definitive implementation dates on several JCBA provisions. Most of these items are new for LAA Flight Attendants, except Section 38, Crew Rest, which applies to both LAA and LUS Flight Attendants. They are as follows:

Section 3 – Compensation
Purser, Lead, Aft, Galley and Speaker will be paid at scheduled or actual, whichever is greater.
LAA: May 2, 2015
LUS: Status Quo

Section 4.A.4. – Per Diem for In Base Training
Flight Attendants awarded or assigned training at their home base shall be paid per diem for all actual hours in training.
LAA: May 2, 2015
LUS: Status Quo
 
Section 9 – Sick Cap Removed and Trips Eligible for Sick Pay
Sick pay will no longer be limited to 80/85 hours. In addition, all trips will be eligible for sick pay, except for Sick Make Up trips.
LAA: May 2, 2015
LUS: Status Quo
 
Section 25.N. – Sick and Vacation Accrual While on a Bid Leave/VLOA
Flight Attendants will be eligible to accrue sick and vacation while on a bid leave/VLOA, regardless of the duration of such leave.
LAA: May 2, 2015
LUS: Status Quo
 
Section 29.E. – Training Pay
Flight Attendants will be paid seventy-five dollars ($75) training pay for each day of recurrent and non-recurrent training. Other compensation will also be implemented for Distance Learning as well as the inability to attend training due to flight cancellations or delays.
LAA: May 2, 2015
LUS: Status Quo
 
Section 38 – Crew Rest
All provisions of this section have been implemented.
LAA: February 23, 2015
LUS: February 23, 2015
 
Click here to view the updated JCBA Implementation Schedule.
 
LAA
Travel Day Requests for a Vacancy Transfer
The JCBA’s travel preferences associated with vacancy transfers were implemented on January 1, 2015. Here are some highlights of this new provision:

• Flight Attendants may request up to five (5) travel days;
• Travel days on a line month are unpaid and reduce guarantee;
• RSV and AVBL Flight Attendants may trade duty free periods (DFP) to avoid guarantee reduction; and,
• DFP trades on reserve cannot create a 7-day issue or a standalone day off within the month.

For more information, please refer to the Travel and Relocation Procedures webpage of the Crew Resources section of the Flight Service website.
 
LUS
Swapping of Positions Entries in New ACARS Software
There has been some confusion concerning Flight Attendant position swap entries in the new pilot ACARS system. If Flight Attendants swap positions on a sequence, pilots can make the necessary adjustments in ACARS, so that the appropriate Flight Attendants receive any premium pay associated with their new position. A memo was sent to all pilots informing them of the new procedures on how to make the adjustments. If you have any issues, please contact your Flight Service Manager.
 
Click here to read the memo that was sent to the pilots regarding this issue.
 
LAA
Vacation/Sick Accrual Eligibility on Bid Leave
The JNC is pleased to announce that another benefit of Voluntary Leaves of Absence (VLOA), which will be applicable to LAA Flight Attendants on January 1, 2016, will be implemented sooner for LAA Bid Leaves. Effective May 2, 2015, LAA Flight Attendants taking Bid Leaves (BL), such that they are not active 15 days of the month, will be eligible to accrue Vacation and Sick for that month. This eligibility for Vacation and Sick accrual will apply on a prospective basis beginning May 2, 2015. In order for these months to actually accrue Vacation and Sick in 2015, the Flight Attendant must have been paid an average of 35 hours for each active month during 2015.

The example above is of a Flight Attendant who takes 20-day Bid Leaves (BL) every other month. Prior to May 2015, the months of FEB and APR were not eligible for VC or SK accrual as the Flight Attendant was not active for 15 days in each month. The VC and SK accrual columns reflect an N, and the threshold was reduced by 35 hours for each month.

Beginning May 2015, the Bid Leave months are indicated with an L, which means they are eligible to accrue VC and SK, provided the Flight Attendant meets their threshold in the other active months indicated with a Y.  The threshold is also reduced by 35 hours for each of the BL months after May 2015 (JUN, AUG, OCT and DEC).

Note: Only paid hours in a Y month count toward meeting the threshold based on the number of Y months for the calendar year.

In this case, the Flight Attendant was paid a total of 231 hours in their 6 active “Y” months. The threshold for 6 “Y” months is 210 hours (35 hours x 6 months). Because the Flight Attendant’s total flight paid hours exceeds their threshold, they are considered to have met their threshold for VC and SK accrual for the year. 
 
Since they met their threshold for the calendar year, the four months after May 2015 in which the Flight Attendant was on BL for the majority of each of those months, they are also eligible to accrue VC and SK in those BL months. Therefore, this Flight Attendant will accrue 10 months of VC and SK for the 2015 calendar year.