Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                          )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 140

            TOM WOLF,                                               )           Issued: March 7, 2016

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-198-030116-MW

            Local Union 41.                                 )                      

____________________________________)

            David Akers, member of Local Union 50, 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 Tom Wolf is ineligible for nomination as delegate or alternate delegate to the IBT convention for alleged failure to maintain 24 consecutive months of good standing. 

            Election Supervisor representative Jo Pressler 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 50’s delegates and alternate delegates election was held February 28, 2016.  Therefore, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from February 2014 through January 2016. 

The protest alleged that Wolf is ineligible to stand for election because the protestor believes Wolf likely was on withdrawal status at some point during the eligibility period. 

To verify Wolf’s eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.  Wolf’s TITAN showed that, except for February 2014 (the first month of the period) when he timely paid cash dues, he paid dues by check-off authorization at all times during the eligibility period we examined.  There was no time during the eligibility period when Wolf was on withdrawal status.

In five instances, however, Wolf’s dues for a given month were posted to his TITAN record in the next month.  We investigate late remittances to determine whether they were the result of the member’s failure to earn wages or receive paid leave benefits attributable to a month that were sufficient to fund his dues obligation for that month; if so a late remittance may constitute an interruption in continuous good standing and render the member ineligible for nomination.  However, 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). 

Wolf’s dues for March 2014 were posted to his dues payment record on April 8, 2014.  The employer deducted full dues from his check for the payroll period ending March 1, 2014.  In addition, Wolf worked some 70 additional hours in March 2014, well more than the 2.5 hours necessary to fund his dues obligation for the month.  Accordingly, the late remittance of his March 2014 dues does not interrupt his continuous good standing.

The same is true of November 2014, where earnings records show that dues were deducted from wages in the week ending November 8 but not posted to the TITAN record until December 4.

Likewise in December 2014, earnings records show that dues were deducted from wages in the week ending December 6 but not posted to the TITAN record until January 10, 2015.

In or about May 2015, Wolf commenced employment directly with Local Union 50 and signed a dues check-off authorization.  Dues for May were posted to his TITAN record on June 2, 2015, but earnings information demonstrated that he had well more than the minimum earnings in May necessary to fund his dues obligation for that month.

October 2015 dues were posted to Wolf’s TITAN record on November 2, but earnings information showed that Wolf had sufficient earnings in October from which dues could have been deducted.

This history establishes that the late remittances of dues to the local union were the result of the employer’s failure to forward them timely and not because Wolf had insufficient earnings or paid leave from which the dues could be deducted.

Accordingly, we DENY the protest and find Wolf ELIGIBLE for nomination. 

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 140 

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