OFFICE OF THE ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: ELIGIBILITY OF ) Protest Decision 2020 ESD 16
ANA ACOSTA, ) Issued: September 2, 2020
) OES Case No. E-025-082620-FW
Protestor. )
____________________________________)
Omar Moncayo, member of Local Union 948, filed an eligibility protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that Ana Acosta is ineligible for nomination as alternate delegate to the 2021 IBT convention.
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.
Local Union 948, a seasonal local union, held its nominations meetings on August 26 and 27, 2020. Accordingly, the 24-month period during which candidates must be in continuous good standing in order to be eligible for nomination ran from August 2018 through July 2020.
Review of Acosta’s TITAN dues-payment record shows that she was a check-off employee at all relevant times, with timely remittance of dues for all months in the eligibility period except October 2019. In that month, the record shows no dues remitted to the local union by Acosta’s employer. Payroll records from the employer show, however, that Acosta worked each day during the period October 1 through 4, 2019; thereafter, she had no earnings until November 12, 2019. Well-settled precedent establishes that a member on dues check-off retains her good standing even if her dues were remitted late or not at all by the employer provided she had sufficient earnings or paid leave in the month from which dues could have been deducted. IBT Constitution, Article X, Section 5(c) (“a member on dues checkoff whose employer fails to make a proper deduction during any month in which the member has earnings from work performed during the month from which the dues could have been deducted, or has earnings from which the employer normally makes a dues deduction pursuant to the contract or established practice, shall not lose good standing status for that month”); 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); Eligibility of Montes, 2011 ESD 114 (February 16, 2011); Eligibility of McCoy, 2016 ESD 69 (January 15, 2016) (check-off member retains eligibility if he had sufficient earnings on at least one day in a calendar month from which dues could be deducted); Eligibility of Temen, 2016 ESD 72 (January 16, 2016) (late remittance of dues by employer does not interrupt continuous good standing). Because Acosta had earnings in October 2019 sufficient to fund her dues obligation for that month, she was entitled to rely on the check-off authorization she signed to pay her dues. When the employer failed to deduct and remit dues for Acosta for October 2019, the local union’s remedy for the unpaid dues was to notify the member and allow the member 30 days to pay the dues directly.[1] Local Union 948 exercised that remedy by letter dated June 16, 2020. Acosta paid the dues directly to the local union on June 23, 2020, well within the 30 days permitted by the IBT Constitution. Paying the dues directly to the local union in response to the local union’s request for payment maintained Acosta’s good standing status for October 2019. The balance of her dues payment record established that she was therefore in continuous good standing for the entire 24-month eligibility period.
For these reasons, we find Acosta ELIGIBLE for nomination as alternate delegate and DENY the 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. Any party requesting a hearing must comply with the requirements of Article XIII, Section 2(i). All parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely in any such appeal upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Barbara Jones
Election Appeals Master
IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.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, all within the time prescribed above. Service may be accomplished by email, using the “reply all” function on the email by which the party received this decision. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Barbara Jones
2020 ESD 16
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
braymond@teamster.org
Edward Gleason
egleason@gleasonlawdc.com
Patrick Szymanski
szymanskip@me.com
Will Bloom
wbloom@dsgchicago.com
Tom Geoghegan
tgeoghegan@dsgchicago.com
Rob Colone
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Barbara Harvey
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Kevin Moore
Mooregp2021@gmail.com
F.C. “Chris” Silvera
fitzverity@aol.com
Fred Zuckerman
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
ken@tdu.org
Omar Moncayo
By overnight mail
Ana Acosta
By overnight mail
Teamsters Local Union 948
c/o Adam Ochoa
ochoateamsters948@hotmail.com
Deborah Schaaf
dschaaf@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com
[1] Article X, Section 5(c) of the IBT Constitution provides that “[i]n such an event, the Local Union shall notify the member of his employer’s failure and payment shall be made by the member within thirty (30) days of said notice in order to retain good standing status.”