Protest Decisions

OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR

for the

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS

IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF                          )           Protest Decision 2016 ESD 116

            MICHAEL MADDY,                       )           Issued: February 22, 2016

                                                                        )           OES Case No. E-167-021516-ME

            Local Union 542.                               )                      

____________________________________)

            Dan Webb, member and principal officer of Local Union 957, 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 Michael Maddy 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 957’s delegates and alternate delegates election was held February 13, 2016.  Therefore, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from February 2014 through January 2016.  The protest alleged that Maddy is ineligible for delegate because of a failure to maintain continuous good standing over this 24-month period.

To verify Maddy’s eligibility during this period, we reviewed TITAN records for dues remitted on his behalf.  Maddy’s TITAN shows a seniority date with Arkansas Best Freight, where he is currently employed, of February 8, 1988.  Maddy told our investigator that he took leave from Arkansas Best Freight for nearly eight years to work on a full-time basis for Local Union 957, last working as vice president of the local union through December 2014.  During his employment with Arkansas Best Freight and then with Local Union 957, Maddy’s dues were timely deducted by check-off.  Following election of new officers in Fall 2014, Maddy’s term of office with the local union ended December 31, 2014, and he resumed employment with Arkansas Best Freight.  He worked full-time for Arkansas Best Freight from January 1, 2015 (earning holiday pay for New Year’s Day) through the present, first as a dock worker and then, after driver training, as a city driver, a position he currently holds. 

Despite signing a check-off authorization with Arkansas Best Freight at or around the time of his initial hire in 1988, no dues were deducted from Maddy’s pay by the employer in January 2015 when he resumed employment there.  Maddy said he noticed no dues were deducted and contacted Belinda Draper, dues and benefits coordinator at the local union, to alert her to this fact and to inquire what to do about it.  According to Maddy, Draper assured him that he remained on check-off with Arkansas Best Freight and that dues would be caught up.  Email traffic between Draper and Daphne Swauger, confidential secretary at the employer, thereafter demonstrated uncertainty as to whether Maddy’s original check-off authorization was still effective.  To resolve this uncertainty, Missy Branum, an office clerical for the local union, obtained a new authorization.  According to her email to Draper and Swauger, she “got the authorization in mid-January after dues were deducted. … I have him set up.”  The local union did not bill Maddy for the unpaid dues.  Instead, in March and April 2015, Arkansas Best Freight deducted from Maddy’s pay and remitted to the local union twice the monthly amount of dues, bringing him current by April 2015.

            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). 

            Maddy signed a valid check-off authorization with Arkansas Best Freight when he was hired in 1988.  Despite this authorization, no dues were deducted in January and February 2015, when he returned to that employer after many years working full-time for the local union.  The apparent confusion as to whether the previous check-off authorization remained valid was resolved with a new authorization signed in mid-January 2015.  Maddy had sufficient earnings after mid-January and through February to fund his dues obligations for those months, yet no dues were deducted and remitted to the local union.  Under these circumstances, we find Maddy has maintained good standing continuously during the eligibility period, notwithstanding that dues were not deducted by the employer and remitted to the local union during January and February 2015.

            For these reasons, we find Maddy ELIGIBLE for nomination in Local Union 957’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 116 

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