In the Matter of the Petition by ) August 27, 1999 ) JAMES ANDERSON ) 7623 Kitt Court ) ) at ) ) San Diego, CA 92111-3617 ) P. S. Docket No. DCA 99-344 APPEARANCE FOR PETITIONER: James Anderson 7623 Kitt Court San Diego, CA 92111-3617 APPEARANCE FOR RESPONDENT: Timothy J. Arntz Labor Relations Specialist United States Postal Service 1251 Rancho Carmel Drive Room 229 San Diego, CA 92199-9401
DECISION ON MOTION TO DISMISS
Petitioner, James Anderson, filed this Petition after receiving a Notice of Involuntary Administrative Salary Offsets, dated July 8, 1999. This Notice stated the Postal Service's intention to withhold $55.24 from Petitioner's salary to recover for a shortage in his account, discovered in December 1997.
With the Answer to the Petition, the Postal Service included what is, in essence, a motion to dismiss this case, arguing that Petitioner appealed the same alleged debt through the grievance/arbitration procedure, and that an arbitrator held a hearing and issued a decision denying the grievance. Attached to the Answer was the June 25, 1999 decision of the Arbitrator.
Petitioner replied to the motion, arguing that there was nothing in the Letter of Demand, issued to him in December 1997, that told him he could not use Debt Collection Act procedures after an arbitration hearing, and also that because the Notice of Involuntary Administrative Salary Offsets told him he could file a Debt Collection Act petition, he should be entitled to a hearing.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Petitioner is a window clerk at the Del Mar Post Office. On December 12, 1997, his account was audited and found to be short by $55.24. A Letter of Demand for that amount was issued to Petitioner on that same day.
2. Petitioner's union filed a grievance on his behalf under provisions of the labor/management agreement, and the grievance was taken through the various appeal steps. A hearing was held before an Arbitrator on June 24, 1999. Various issues were raised and, on June 25, 1999, the Arbitrator issued his written decision denying the grievance.
3. On July 8, 1999, the Notice of Involuntary Administrative Salary Offsets was issued to Petitioner.
DECISION
Section 462.34 of the Postal Service Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) limits access of bargaining unit employees to the Postal Service’s Debt Collection Act procedures as follows:
"If an arbitrator opens a hearing on the merits of a grievance concerning any letter of demand, the statutory offset procedures in 452.3 do not apply thereafter, unless the arbitrator makes a ruling of nonarbitrability (see 462.22d) or the Postal Service and the union negotiate a partial settlement of the grievance."
The procedures in section 452.3, referenced above, are those that provide an employee an opportunity for a hearing under the Debt Collection Act before the Postal Service collects an alleged debt by involuntary salary offset. The purpose of these pertinent provisions of the ELM is to give bargaining unit employees a choice of contesting an alleged debt through either the grievance procedures, or the Debt Collection Act hearing procedures. What the section quoted above means is that an employee cannot do both. As the arbitration path was chosen and followed through to conclusion, Petitioner is not entitled to another hearing to challenge collection of the debt. The Notice of Involuntary Administrative Salary Offsets, which told him of his right to file a Petition for a Debt Collection Act hearing, was issued to him in error. That error, however, does not create a right to a Debt Collection Act hearing that does not exist under the ELM.
Respondent's Motion to Dismiss is granted. Respondent may collect $55.24 from Petitioner's salary.