Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                          )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 103

            ADAM KING,                                  )           Issued: February 10, 2016

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-118-012216-FW

            Local Union 542.                               )                      

____________________________________)

            Jaime Vasquez, member and principal officer of Local Union 542, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2015-2016 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”).  The protest alleged that Adam King is ineligible for nomination as delegate to the IBT convention for alleged failure to maintain 24 consecutive months of good standing.  

            Election Supervisor representative Deborah Schaaf investigated this protest.

Findings of Fact and Analysis

Article VI, Section 1(a) of the Rules provides that “to be eligible to run for any Convention delegate, alternate delegate or International Officer position, one must:  (1) be a member in continuous good standing of the Local Union, with one’s dues paid to the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination for said position with no interruptions in active membership due to suspensions, expulsions, withdrawals, transfers or failure to pay fines or assessments; (2) be employed at the craft within the jurisdiction of the Local Union for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months prior to the month of nomination; and (3) be eligible to hold office if elected.”

The nominations meeting for Local Union 542’s delegates and alternate delegates election was held January 21, 2016.  Therefore, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from January 2014 through December 2015.  The protest alleged that King is ineligible for delegate because of a failure to maintain continuous good standing over this 24-month period.

To verify King’s eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.  King’s TITAN shows a seniority date with UPS of August 8, 2011, with a check-off authorization signed the same date.  The TITAN Member History page shows that King was entered into the TITAN system on September 9, 2011 as a “New Applicant” check-off member, but no dues were deducted from his compensation until August 1, 2014, nearly three years after he was hired.  The first apparent action the local union took to address this situation came in May 2014, after it received the IBT’s quarterly report of UPS non-members that included King’s name.  The local union contacted King, had him submit a new member application and check-off authorization, and then began collecting dues retroactive to the time he was hired, directing UPS to withhold dues twice monthly in order to recover the arrearage.  The first dues payment posted to King’s record, on August 1, 2014, thus paid him through September 2011.  His initiation fee of $265 was collected in $25 installments twice monthly beginning August 1, 2014, the last $5 posted to his record on January 9, 2015.  At the twice monthly collection rate for his dues arrearage, King has now become current, showing a “paid thru” date on his current record of February 2016.  The likely explanation for the failure of UPS to deduct and remit dues on King’s behalf is that the dues bill the local union submitted showed an incorrect Social Security number for King (replacing a “0” with a“6”); the TITAN Member History shows that the SSN number was corrected on July 25, 2014, a week before the first dues and initiation fee installments were posted to King’s record.

            A member on dues check-off retains his good standing even if his dues were remitted late or not at all by the employer, provided he had signed a check-off authorization and had sufficient earnings or paid leave in the month from which dues could have been deducted.  IBT Constitution, Article X, Section 5(c); Eligibility of John Gerow, et al., 2006 ESD 121 (March 2, 2006); Eligibility of Thiel, 2010 ESD 16 (July 26, 2010), appeal withdrawn, 10 EAM 4 (August 6, 2010). 

            King signed a valid check-off authorization when he was hired in August 2011.  Despite this authorization, no dues were deducted until August 2014.  When dues deduction commenced, King paid dues retroactively to make up for the months that the employer did not deduct and remit them on his behalf.  In addition, evidence demonstrates that King had sufficient earnings in each month of the eligibility period when dues were not deducted to fund his dues obligation for those months.  Under these circumstances, we find King has maintained good standing continuously during the eligibility period, notwithstanding that dues were not deducted by the employer and remitted to the local union during the first seven months of that period.

            For these reasons, we find King ELIGIBLE for nomination in Local Union 542’s delegates and alternate delegates election.

Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within two (2) working days of receipt of this decision.  The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor in any such appeal.  Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:

Kathleen A. Roberts

Election Appeals Master

JAMS

620 Eighth Avenue, 34^th floor

New York, NY 10018

kroberts@jamsadr.com

Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1050 17^th Street, N.W., Suite 375, Washington, D.C. 20036, all within the time prescribed above.  A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.

                                                                        Richard W. Mark

                                                                        Election Supervisor

cc:        Kathleen A. Roberts

            2016 ESD 103 

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