Executive Order 5L \ . Special Leaves of Absence to be Given Disabled Veterans in Need of Medical Treatment

Transcription

1 F' Executve Order 5L \. Specal Leaves of Absence to be Gven Dsabled Veterans n Need of Medcal Treatment Mth respect to medcal treatment of dsabled veterans who are employed n the executve cvl servce of the unted States, t s hereby ordered that, upon the presentaton of an offcal statement from duly consttuted n.adcal authorty that medcal tre&traent s requred, such annual or sck leave as may be permtted by lace and such leave wthout pay u map be necessary shall be granted by the proper supervsory offcer to s dsabled veteran n order that the veteran map receve such treatment, all vrtbout penrltp s hs effcency ratng. The grantng of such lease s contngcat upon the veteran's gvng pror nodes of defnte days and hours of absence requred for medcal treatment s order that arrangements n ef be made for carryng an the mark durng hs absmca. C Tm War, Hovsr, July 17, _ [No. 5396] HERBERT HOOVER t-. v

2 -- " - _ - 50 A RECEIVED By U ~ ~~ ~. S~~Yt^LEt~SPt{IS FIELD OFFICE,~USPS~ ::.... S P Q~TAL,, -Washn ;-on. DC '. JUN '. a OtE ": ludjlct : AGO : m5 Er.!+cutvc order 5396 LAW DEPT.... E:: Ya. Ed Horgan hs{stant?ostras ~er General Covernren : Relatons.. '.. E r. " ^- Ths resconds to the November request from your ' o!_ :c~~ that we determne the applcablty to postal employ= ee ; of Executve Order.5396, whch provdes that specal. :..'.*- leaves of absence shll be granted to dsabled veterans n need of medcal treatment. -. ~- : Whether th± Postal Servce s legally bound by an executve order.s largely a functon of the authorty under rch the. order s ssued. In short, f an executve order s ssued pursuant to r s tatute whch s not applcable to the Postal Servce, t appears that the order s also not applcable. In ths regard, we note that although E.O, 5396 dogs not cte the authorty under whch t ssued,.t seems probable that the Order was ssued pursuant to the general authorty granted '.-,he?resdent fn personnel natters under ttle S,. Unted States Cooe. As the Postal Servce s generally.. :. exempt ron the provsons of ttle 5, pursuant to 39 U.S.C ($), 4t appears, therefore, that E.O s not applcable to the Postal Servce. Fowever, 'cetermnaton of the applcaton of E.O also requres consderaton of 39 C.F.R. S211.4(e), kteh prov=dps~ :n pertnent pert : ExecepL as they nay be nconsstent Wth'the provsons of the Postal Reorganzaton Act,. '. wth other regulatons adapted by' the Postal Setvjce, or wth a collectve barganng ' agreement under the Postal Reorganzaton. Act, all renulatons of Federal agences =.=,? -~ ~,= ot!:er :hay ='%: Postal Servce o : Post vfce LEnartment and atl aws otter than provsons cf re: :~e~ Ttle 39, Unted States Co6e, or pr.-ovsons of other laws made applcable: to the Festal Servce by revses Ttle 39# Unted States Code, dea lnc - w sh of~ce_s t a,~ " - " ~. S..... r'~......

3 50, t. :.. Pace 2. r.-.: ". _ and employees applcable to postal- offcers..... and employees mmedately pror to the. ''. - commencement of operatons of the Postal Servce, contnue n effect as re ulatons of the Postal Servce. (.Emphass suppled. 1 As subchapter 1-4 of Chapter 530 of the Federal Persosu:el Manual ncorporates E.O. 5396, t could be argued that the Postal Servce must comply wth that order, as set forth n subchapter. 1-4, by vrtue of the carryover effect of 39 C.F.R.. In cur.vewer however, the regulatons contaned n subchapter 1-4 of Chapter 630 of the Federal Personnel Manual -appear to - be nconsstent wth the leave regulatons recently adapted by the Postal Servce and ncorporated n collectve bargan- =. ng agreements and, therefore, are no longer applcable to.. _ postal employees. In ths regard, t s our understandng..'. that Chapter 510, Leave, of the Employee and Labor Relatons Manual was ntended to supersede all leave regulatons formerly _~ applcable to postal et.ployees and, n essence, to. "preempt =he feld " n the area of leave regulatons. Accordngly, our judgment, E.O s no logger applcable to the Postal Servce by vrtue of 39 C.F.R (c). ~.. t : should be noted, however, that the fact that E.O s not applcable to the Postal Servce s of lttle practcal '.' consequence. Secton e. of the Postal Servce's. 'Employee & Labor Relatons Manual provdes that a dsabled.veteran s granted leave - sck leave, annual leave or, f necessary, leave wthout pay -for medcal treatment :f the employee summts a statement from medcal authorty that..~~.treatment s requred and, when possble, gves pror " notce of the defnte number of days and hours of absence. t.-sherry C a g a o l..' : -. Supervsory Attorney,, Offce - of Labor Law,., See a lso 39. U.S.C..S 005( )... " - r-

4 e `~; w r L,f t n 7 usv. w ~`~ j& 50 B SENIOR ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS GROUP Washngton, DC December 6, 1977 Mr. Rcke L. Garmon Admnstratve Assstant Dsabled Amercan Veterans 607 Mane Avenue, SW Washngton, DC Dear Mr. Garmon Ths s n response to your letter of October 16th ; we regret the delay, whch was unavodable, The Postal Servce frmly supports Executve Order 5396, and we wll carefully nvestgate and rectfy any falure of Postal management to adhere to the Executve Order..C. We have nvestgated the complant submtted by Mr. Lonqstreeth, Presdent of the Amercan Postal Workers Unon n Pttafeld, MA. As you know, Secton (d) of the Postal Manual states that leave ",.,shall be granted to dsabled veteran employees so that they may receve treatment." '!'he employee's oblgaton s to gve "...pror notce of defnte days and hours of absence requred so that arrangements may be made for carryng on the work durng hs absence." The employee must also present "...an offcal statement from duly consttuted medcal authorty that medcal treatment s requred...." The key ssue n ths care, as we see t, s that leave s to be granted so as to permt the dsabled veteran employee to receve treatment. In the case at hand, the employee wanted sck leave so that he could go home and get some rest rot to hs scheduled medcal treatment. The Sectonal Center Manager Postmaster o Ptts e has assured me that f the employee's V.A. appontment had been scheduled durng hs work tour, then sck leave would have been granted, as c,the case wth other dsabled veterans. Also, f annual leave or leave wthout pay ~ - --~-- ~ t

5 Mr. Garmon, page 2 50 B had been requested for the rest perod, every effort would have been made to comply. We regret that a more favorable decson cannot be rendered n ths case, but the Postal Servce has an oblgaton to delver the mal wth dspatch and at the lowest possble cost to the Amercan publc, Many of the employees granted sck leave must be replaced by employees workng overtme and by Flexble Schedule employees called n to cover absences. Thus, sck leave cannot be granted lghtly and wthout full justfcaton. To reterate, the employee's request for sck leave would ha :"e been spprovcd had hs t".a, appont.-rc-n-, fallen wthn hs scheduled work tour. Thank you for brngng ths complant to my attenton. Sncerely, Y s. onway bcc : Mr. Masters Mr. C. Scalla, Northeast Regon J. C. Gldea, Labor Relatons -. Regonal Drectors, EbLR, All Regons