Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                          )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 97

            RICHARD GODIN, SR.,                 )           Issued: February 1, 2016

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-089-011116-CA

            Local Union 938.                               )                      

____________________________________)

            Craig McInnes, member and delegate candidate of Local Union 938, 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 Richard Godin, Sr., is ineligible for nomination as delegate to the IBT convention for alleged failure to maintain 24 consecutive months of good standing.   

            Election Supervisor representative Jack Sullens 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 938 delegates and alternate delegates election was held January 9, 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 Godin is ineligible for delegate because of a break in the 24-month continuous good standing requirement.

To verify Godin’s eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.  Godin’s TITAN shows that he was a check-off dues payer with Purolator, an employer which generally deducts and remits dues one month in advance of the date they are due.  Thus, Godin’s dues for January 2014, the first month of the eligibility period, were remitted in December 2013; dues for February 2014 were remitted in January; and so on through May 2014, when the dues deducted and remitted to the union paid Godin through June.  No dues were deducted in June 2014, but this absence did not interrupt Godin’s continuous good standing because he was already paid through that month.  Dues deducted and remitted to the union in July paid Godin’s obligations through that month, and dues deducted in each subsequent month through December paid Godin through the month the deduction was made.  Thus, dues deducted in August 2014 paid Godin through August; the September deduction paid him through September; and so on monthly through December 2014, with no interruption in continuous good standing.

Twice the monthly amount of dues were deducted and remitted in January 2015, paying Godin through February 2015.  No dues were deducted in February, but this absence did not interrupt Godin’s continuous good standing because he was already paid through that month.  The dues deducted in March 2015 paid Godin through March; those in April through April; and so on monthly through September, when the dues deducted in that month paid him through September.

In October 2015, no dues were deducted.  Dues deducted in November 2015 paid Godin through October; those deducted in December 2015 paid him through November; and a double deduction in January 2016 brought him current again.

On this record, the focus thus is on October 2015 and the application of the check-off rule to that month.  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). 

Paystubs Godin supplied our investigator showed that he had 32 hours of vacation pay and 4 hours of training time in the period ending October 24, 2015.  In the next week, ending October 31, 2015, he had 27.4 hours of “normal pay,” i.e., wages.  No dues were withheld from either check.  Had dues been withheld, they would have satisfied Godin’s October 2015 dues obligation.  Godin’s signed check-off authorization maintains his continuous good standing under these circumstances.

Accordingly, we find Godin ELIGIBLE to stand for delegate in Local Union 938’s delegates and alternate delegates election.

The protest also challenges Godin’s eligibility to nominate other candidates.  Article II, Section 5(h) of the Rules provides that a member is eligible to nominate another member for delegate or alternate or second that nomination if the nominating or seconding member has “his/her dues paid through the month prior to the nominations meeting.”  We find that Godin, through his check-off authorization, satisfied the good standing requirement and he was ELIGIBLE to nominate.

For these reasons, we DENY this protest.

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 97 

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