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[pmAS] Maternity Leave Grievance Survey

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

Last September, AFA published information about management granting our grievance #36-99-2-24-17 (Violation of Section 15.M.1.a & 2.a, Failure to Allow Minimum Coordination While on Maternity Leave) and grievance #36-99-2-25-17 (Failure to Allow Minimum and/or Maximum Coordination While on Maternity Leave).

Grievance #36-99-2-24-17 applies to the time period of 6/8 weeks post-birth to the 120th day post-birth.  It mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to use minimum coordination with sick leave and/or vacation from 6/8 weeks’ post-birth to 120 days’ post-birth.  Previously management required maximum coordination with at least 70 TFP of sick leave monthly.

Grievance #36-99-2-25-17 encompasses 121st day post-birth up to one to eight months leave post-120th day.  Again, this mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to coordinate minimum or maximum sick leave and/or vacation from one month up to eight months following the 120th day post-birth.

As part of the resolution process, AFA is collecting information from Flight Attendants who may have been affected by the grievance. If you were on maternity leave any time between December 2014 and now, we ask that you complete the survey below to provide us with additional details regarding your leave.

Click here to access the Maternity Leave Grievance Survey

If you have already completed this survey in paper form, there is no need to complete the survey again.  The survey will be available through Monday, February 12, 2018.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

Annual Benefits Enrollment

ANNUAL BENEFITS ENROLLMENT

Annual benefits enrollment has been extended until November 16, 2017!

Enroll now at: www.alaskasworld.com under your benefits/pay tab> benefits>healthcare & total rewards.

If you have any questions or need help, contact our Benefits Center at (844) 231-3476, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. PT. To further assist you, our AFA benefits chair, Sonia Quackenbush will be available tomorrow, November 9th, downstairs in the Inflight crew room from 10 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

As a reminder you should not enroll in the optional short-term disability (CA has their own state disability) and it’s a good time to review all of your beneficiary information and make any necessary changes.

[AS] Maternity Leave Grievances

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

Last month, management granted our grievance #36-99-2-24-17 (Violation of Section 15.M.1.a & 2.a, Failure to Allow Minimum Coordination While on Maternity Leave).  Information about the grievance was published on August 7.  The grievance applies to the time period of 6/8 weeks post-birth to the 120th day post-birth.  It mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to use minimum coordination with sick leave and/or vacation from 6/8 weeks’ post-birth to 120 days’ post-birth.  Previously management required maximum coordination with at least 70 TFP of sick leave monthly.  That was a huge win for all Alaska Flight Attendants.

Recently, management sustained another grievance #36-99-2-25-17 (Failure to Allow Minimum and/or Maximum Coordination While on Maternity Leave) which encompasses 121st day post-birth up to one to eight months leave post-120th day.  Again, this mandates that management follow our contractual provision to allow a Flight Attendant to coordinate minimum or maximum sick leave and/or vacation from one month up to eight months following the 120th day post-birth.  This was even a bigger win for all Alaska Flight Attendants.

These sustained grievances mean that a Flight Attendant on maternity leave, may use minimum or maximum sick leave/vacation per section 15.M of the contract.  They will get paid when they are on a longer maternity leave and will be eligible for active employee rates for insurance for as long as 8 months following the 120th day post-birth (up to a year post-birth).  This will allow Flight Attendants to stay off work much longer with their newborns while receiving pay from their sick leave and/or vacation banks and maintaining active rate insurance.  This will also allow the look back calendar to be applied in calculating flight attendants TFP toward the yearly 480 requirements for vacation, insurance and uniform benefits.

If you have any questions about maternity leave, please contact your Local Benefits Committee Chairperson (or Local Benefits Committee Member who specializes in maternity-related issues).  You can find contact information on your Local Council’s Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS – 2017 ENROLLMENT

Save the Dates

When:

AUG 5-7, 2017

Where:

SAN Airport

Time:

5:30 to 12:00

Why:

SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS – 2017 ENROLLMENT

National Group Protection (NGP) will be in the crew lounge to communicate the AFA supplemental benefit plans.  Please look for the NGP benefit counselor Joann Levandoski during the on-site enrollment to enroll or make changes to your existing coverage.  Note that you can enroll in any of the crew lounges, not just your base location.

  • Accident Insurance
  • Critical Illness Coverage (NEW PLAN!)
  • Whole Life Insurance

They have enhanced the Critical Illness plan, members who are currently enrolled can lower their rates while improving the covered illness. Please take the time to sit down with a benefit counselor and review your options. Lower rates and more covered illnesses.  This is also an excellent time to make sure you have filed for your annual health screening benefits, which are part of the accident and critical illness benefit plans.

 

  • Supplemental – these plans supplement any existing coverage
  • Voluntary – members choose to participate
  • Limited Underwriting – no medical or physical exams required
  • Family Coverage – available with all of the plans
  • Portable – members can continue coverage if they leave the company
  • Payroll Deduction – premiums are paid through payroll deduction

If you have any questions regarding the upcoming enrollment, please contact National Group Protection (NGP) at 800-344-9016.

Benefits Committee News

In This Edition

  • Leave of Absence Insurance Changes
  • Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) account.
  • How to Get Benefits Help

Leave of Absence Insurance Changes

If you are planning to take a health-related leave of absence, please be advised that management is changing the way health care premiums will be handled.  The process for paying for continuing health care coverage while on such a paid leave of absence will be changing.  We have been advised that leaves will be coded differently in PeopleSoft in the future.  This change in coding will mean that health benefit premiums will no longer automatically be deducted from your paycheck EVEN IF you are coordinating.

If you are coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Short Term Disability or California State Disability, management considers these to be a paid leave.   Under this new policy, you will receive a letter from Cobra Management Services (CMS) with instructions for paying the employee portion of your health benefits premium each month.  Once you have been on a Worker’s Compensation leave of absence for twelve weeks, and begin coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Worker’s Compensation time loss payments, the process will be the same.

This does NOT mean that you are being required to pay for COBRA coverage under this coding change, but you will have to self-pay the employee premium directly to CMS.  It is very important that the premiums be paid on time, or health benefits will end.

If you are already on a leave of absence and are coordinating to keep health benefits in place, we suggest that you double-check your paychecks each month to be sure that premiums have been deducted.  If not, contact your leave coordinator immediately.

Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and Your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) Account

The high deductible PPO comes with a prefunded health savings account (HSA) that was funded on January 1, 2017 with $1000 from Alaska Airlines (and a portion of your designated contributions). Your FSAEE should be completely funded at this time.

Both of these accounts are managed with your Premera Healthcare Payment card.  When you use this card, vision and dental will withdraw from the FSAEE contributions and medical expenses will withdraw from the HSA.  Under our plan, you can roll over $500 each year to the FSAEE while roll over to the HSA is currently unlimited.  This means that your HSA dollars can be used to pay for medical cost after you separate from the company.

This healthcare payment card is used like a credit card and should be treated as such.

You can learn more about these two accounts, your balances, payments and what both accounts can be used for at: www.premera.com.  After logging in, proceed to Member > Member Services > My Account > Personal Funding Account > Manage Your Account (shows balances, how much you can contribute each year, payments, etc.) You will also find a Help and Tools tab here for qualified medical expenses and FAQs.

How to Get Benefits Help

Your Local Benefits Committee is available to assist you.  You can find contact information at http://afaalaska.org/benefits.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Benefits Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor

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