In this edition…
- State Sick Verification Period: November 25 – December 4
- Attendance Points Report
- Sick Banks and Rainmaker Balances
- End-of-Year Record Improvement
- Make your State Sick Leave Bank elections by December 31.
Verification Period
As published in a required bulletin on TeamAAG on November 9, the next State Sick Verification Period is from November 25 to December 4. Per §32.I of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, those who call out and utilize State Sick leave for 4 or more consecutive workdays during the verification period will be required to submit documentation for their call out. When such documentation is requested, Flight Attendants have 10 business days from the first day of absence to submit, per Inflight Performance instructions. Any out-of-pocket costs incurred to obtain these mandatory and necessary documentation will be reimbursed by the company after the Flight Attendant uses their own health insurance. For a quick review of sick leave changes from TA2, please review the TA2 Sick Leave & Attendance video.
Attendance Points Report
With the end of year around the corner, now is a great time to review your attendance points and make sure that everything is accurate. Flight Attendants may generate their attendance reports by going to Crew Access > Reports > Attendance Points. When checking your points, look for any points that may have been assessed incorrectly, or sick callouts that may have been coded to the wrong sick bank.
Why aren’t my points dropping off after 18 months?
Per §32.G.2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, points are deleted from a Flight Attendant’s accumulated total 18 months after the points were charged. Some Flight Attendants have noticed that their 18-month adjustments have not actually reduced their point total. The answer to why this is happening can be found in §32.G.6 which states:
When a Flight Attendant’s accumulated point total becomes zero (0), all of their prior points and record improvement point deletions will have no further effect on their accumulated point total and may be used only to resolve a dispute about the time the point total reached zero (0).
Therefore, if your point total has ever reached zero (0) through various mitigations like having a perfect quarter or bank points, then any points that were incurred prior to that will no longer reduce your points at 18 months, as those points have essentially already been wiped clean from your record.
Sick Banks and Rainmaker Balances
To check your sick bank balances, log into Rainmaker and go to Crew Pay Manager > Bank Balances. Be sure to note when TFP is actually available in your banks to use.
Bank balance reports will have two types of transactions: Accrual and CreditBased. Accrual transactions are deposits into your bank based on how much TFP is worked or credited in a month, while CreditBased transactions are withdrawals from your bank when you call out sick. While CreditBased transactions are instantly processed, Accrual transactions are not processed until after the bid month is complete. It is important to understand that Accrual transactions may not actually be available for use yet. Flight Attendants must look at the “earned date” of each transaction to know whether that TFP is available for use.
We have heard from Flight Attendants who have found themselves in point jeopardy because they called out believing they had enough TFP in their State Sick bank, only to have the outstanding balance of their call out be covered by their CBA sick bank. When this happens, each day that a Flight Attendant does not have sufficient sick leave in their bank will be assessed points. These points may be mitigated by a Point Reduction Form, pursuant to §32. When calling out State Sick, it’s good practice to:
- Confirm your sick leave bank balances and ensure there is sufficient TFP to cover the absence.
- Check your attendance points to ensure your call out has been coded correctly.
- If the CBA bank has to be used to cover the call out and a point reduction form (PRF) is available to use, be sure to submit it prior to the last day of your first sequence back.
- If you need to switch banks, submit a Rainmaker query prior to the last day of your first sequence back.
End-of-Year Record Improvement
Section 32.G of the contract provides multiple provisions that allow a Flight Attendant to reduce their attendance points. One such provision occurs at the end of every calendar year when any Flight Attendant who has 4.0 or fewer attendance points will have their record reduced to zero (0) points at the end of the year. In order to qualify for this, a Flight Attendant must:
- Achieve 480 TFP in the calendar year
- Includes vacation and Longevity PTO (2025)
- Excludes sick leave and Boarding Pay
- No more than 80.0 unpaid TFP credit will be applied to the 480 threshold
- Not accumulate any points since November 1st of that year
For more information and requirements, please refer to §32.G.4. The record improvement often takes a few weeks into January to be reflected on your attendance report.
State Sick Leave Bank Election Form
As a reminder, up to 40 TFP of a Flight Attendant’s State sick leave bank carries over into the new year. For TFP accrued in excess of 40 TFP in the State sick leave bank, Flight Attendants may opt to have it paid out at their pay rate as of 12/31 of the current year or transferred into their CBA sick leave bank. Any cash out will be paid on the February 5th paycheck.
Flight Attendants must make their elections for their excess State sick leave balance by December 31st. If no election is made, the excess of 40 TFP will be paid according to §16.A.4.a of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. You can find the State Sick Leave Bank Election Form on the Inflight website under Administration > Pay & Benefits.
