(http://afgecouncil222.com)
October 20, 2005

ENEWS ALERT:

Recent Email Sent to HUD Employees
Concerning Reprocessing Rejected Travel Vouchers

On October 13, employees received an email from Barry Kahn concerning "Procedures for Reprocessing Rejected Travel Vouchers." At that time, we reminded management of Article 49 in the HUD/AFGE Agreement and asked them to advise you of the following:

Section 49.04 - Late Payment. Management will not consider charge card payments past due if the late payment of the bill results from an untimely reimbursement by Management of an employee's properly completed claim which was submitted on time. . .

Rather than notifying you of your rights, Management advised us that the Agreement between HUD and AFGE does not bind the credit card company.

We are contacting legal counsel to determine if interest or late charges incurred by employees as a result of untimely reimbursement can be claimed under the Back Pay Act [5 U.S.C. 5596(b)]. We are also preparing a Grievance of the Parties claiming damages. Pursuant to Section 49.15, the agency is required to monitor on a monthly basis the timeliness of reimbursement, and provide the Union with a copy of the results, office by office. With this information, we will contact employees directly to inquire about your damages.

If you received an untimely reimbursement and do not hear from us by December 15, please advise your Local President. Include your name, the amount of reimbursement due and the date received from HUD, the amount on the charge card, what you did (i.e. paid in full timely, paid in installments, refused to pay), and an estimate of your damages (i.e. loss of use of funds while waiting reimbursement, interest charges, late fees, respectively).

Your membership is essential to maintaining a proactive and assertive union. We get our leaders from our members, so we need the very best employees if we're to be the very best union!

In solidarity,

Carolyn Federoff

President, AFGE Council 222