Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                          )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 87

            HOWIE HAWKINS,                        )           Issued: January 26, 2016

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-119-012316-NE

            Local Union 317.                               )                      

____________________________________)

            Mark May, member and principal officer of Local Union 317, 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 Howie Hawkins is ineligible for nomination as delegate to the IBT convention for alleged failure to maintain 24 consecutive months of good standing.  

            Election Supervisor representative Jeffrey Ellison 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 317 delegates and alternate delegates election was held January 23, 2016.  Therefore, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from January 2014 through December 2015.  The protest alleged that Hawkins is ineligible for delegate because of a break in the 24-month continuous good standing requirement.

To verify Hawkins’s eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.  Hawkins’s TITAN shows that he was a check-off dues payer who was placed on honorable withdrawal on June 30, 2014, but the withdrawal card was deposited the same day.  Hawkins told our investigator that he did not request withdrawal or know that he was placed in withdrawal status.    

Withdrawal status excuses the member’s obligation to pay dues.  However, withdrawal will also generally interrupt continuous good standing, “[p]rovided, however, that if a member on withdrawal deposits his card in the month immediately following the month for which it was effective and pays his dues for both months in a timely manner as provided in Article X, Section 5(c), such period of withdrawal shall not be considered a break in continuous good standing in the Local Union.”  IBT constitution, Article II, Section 4(a)(1). 

Even had Hawkins requested or otherwise known of the withdrawal status, the withdrawal would not cause an interruption in his continuous good standing because it ended within the period the IBT constitution declares will not result in an interruption of continuous good standing.   

Turning to Hawkins’s dues payment record, Hawkins paid dues throughout the eligibility period pursuant to check-off authorization.  His employer, UPS, withheld and remitted dues one month in advance.  As such, dues withheld from Hawkins’s earnings in December 2013 paid his dues obligation for January 2014.  Similarly, dues withheld in January 2014 paid his obligation through February 2014 and so on, through April 2014, where the dues remitted paid his obligation through May.  The next dues remittance posted to his record was on July 25, 2014.  The focus of our inquiry, then is the dues obligation for June 2014.

            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).  Applying this principle, we look to whether the member had net earnings on any day during the month sufficient to fund his total monthly dues obligation.  This examination has led us to find a member eligible where his only earnings for a given month was from holiday pay on a single day.  Eligibility of Hicks, 2005 ESD 30 (December 5, 2005). 

Hawkins told our investigator that he commenced a period of disability on or about April 7, 2014 and returned to work on July 14, 2014.  His TITAN record shows that he had earnings in April and July, and that dues were deducted from those earnings.  In addition, Hawkins produced to our investigator a paystub for the period May 18 to 24, 2014, showing gross earnings of $569.52, which the stub describes as “RETRO – ST” and “RETRO – OT.”  No dues were withheld from this check.  Had dues been withheld, they would have satisfied Hawkins’s June 2014 dues obligation, as his April 2014 earnings paid his May obligation. 

The balance of the eligibility period shows continuous good standing.  Accordingly, we find Hawkins ELIGIBLE to stand for delegate in Local Union 317’s delegates and alternate delegates election.

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 87 

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