Decision by the Investigations and Review Officer

of the District Council of New York City and Vicinity
of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, AFL-CIO

Decision No. 3

Regarding Job Referral Rules

Over the past weeks, this Office has received a variety of suggestions and ideas regarding how the Job Referral Rules should be interpreted in order to better achieve the objective of referring jobs fairly while meeting the legitimate needs of employers. Members of my staff have attended union meetings, observed how jobs are referred in the local unions, and spoken with a significant number of individual union members over the phone and in person. lt is important to continue the dialogue about how best to achieve the objectives of the Job Referral Rules and the broader goals of the Consent Decree.

In these visits and discussions, it has become clear that a number of issues have arisen in the application of the job referral rules that require a response from this Office. The following interpretations are a response to the most pressing issues that have been brought to my attention. Of course, as our experience with the system increases, additional interpretations may be required.

A.   Locals 740, 1456 and 1536: Procedures for Referrals to Distant Jobs

Unlike other locals, the geographical jurisdiction of the millwright, dockbuilder and "timberman" local unions is extremely broad, covering hundreds, and, in the case of the dockbuilders, thousands of

square miles. In order to avoid undue hardship to individual members and to ensure the fair and orderly administration of the Job Referral Rules, individuals registered on the out-of-work lists in these locals should not be forced to take jobs that are distant from their homes, unless they themselves determine that it is in their interest to do so.

Because of the unique problems created by the broad geographical reach of Locals 740, 1456 and 1536, the following rules apply to job referrals in these locals:

1. Individuals on the out-of-work list must be offered the next available job for which they are qualified without regard to the apparent or actual distance of the work site from their current residence.

2.  If the work site of the job offered to an individual on the out-of-work list is located 35 miles or more from his or her current residence according to union records, the individual may decline to accept the offered job. This declination does not constitute a refusal under Section 5(E) of the Job Referral Rules and will not, in any way, affect the individual's position on the out-of-work list.

3. If the job offered to an individual is less than 35 miles from his or her current residence, failure to accept the offered job constitutes a refusal under Section 5(E) of the Job Referral Rules and is counted against that individual.

Short-Term Work under Rule 5(C)

This Office has received reports from a number of locals regarding the impact of the so-called four-day rule on job referrals. This requirement -- set- out in Rule 5(C) of the Job Referral Rules -- provides. that an individual on the out-of-work list who has been referred to a job lasting four days or less may return to his or her position on the list after the job ends.. In locals where there is a long waiting time on the out-ofwork list, members are unwilling to accept short-term jobs that may last more than four days for fear of losing their position on the list and missing an opportunity for longer employment. This has created difficulties in finding individuals willing to work short-term jobs and, in at least one

local, has required emergency appeals to this Office in order to meet employers' short-term labor needs.

Recognizing that the process of interpreting the rules requires fine tuning and may require additional adjustments, the following interpretation will be applied on a trial basis.

Rule 5(C) is modified as follows:

An individual on the out-of-work list will retain his or her position on the list until that individual has worked a cumulative total of eleven work days. After working eleven or more cumulative work days, the individual must register on the out-of-work list again once the current job on which he or she is working has ended.

Union officers and members should provide this Office with information about the impact the ten-day period has on job allocation.

C.   Public Posting of the Out-of-Work List, the Job Referral List the Consent Decree, the Job Referral Rules and Decisions and Communications from the Investigations and Review Officer

Section 8(B) of the Job Referral Rules requires that the out-ofwork list described in Section 7(B) and the job referral list described in Section 7(E) "shall be conspicuously posted or otherwise immediately available for inspection at the offices of the Local Union on a weekly basis."

Reports by union members and observations by members of this Office indicate that the lists in some locals are kept in a private office or "posted" in a manner that makes their inspection impossible without the intervention of a union official. This is not in keeping with the requirements of Section 8(b). A list is not "immediately available" if individual must rely on a union official to provide it for inspection.

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"Conspicuously posted or otherwise immediately available" means that the current out-of-work and job referral lists must be posted in a public portion of the union hall where individuals can read and inspect them on their own without having to request them from a union officer or employee.

This interpretation also applies to the posting of the Consent Decree, the Job Referral Rules, all Decisions by the Investigations and Review Officer, and any other communications the Investigations and Review Officer determines should be publicly posted in local union halls.

Requirements Regarding Inability to Work Due to Injury or Illness

The following provisions are intended to resolve the confusion regarding the requirements of the local union and the individual on the out-of-work list when that individual is unable to work due to-illness or injury.

Individuals registered on the out-of-work list who are unable to work due to injury or illness must notify the local union as soon as possible and must provide medical documentation of their inability to work to the local union within two weeks of the injury or illness. The local union must retain this documentation for a period of three years and this information must be available for inspection or copying by the Investigations and Review Officer on demand. Individuals who provide the local union with false documentation will be removed from the out-ofwork list and may be subject to disciplinary charges under the provisions of the Consent Decree and/or the relevant union constitution, by-laws or rules.

When an ill or injured individual is able to return to work, he or she shall immediately notify the local union. If the individual has provided proper documentation to the local union regarding the disability, that person will return to the position that he or she held on the out-of-work list when the illness or injury first prevented the individual from working.

Where a modified shape hall notification system is used pursuant to Decision 1.B of the investigations and Review Officer, a properly-documented illness or injury releases the individual from the requirement of appearing at the shape hall.

Documentation for Specific Requests for an Individual by an Employer under Rule 5(B)

Whenever an employer requests a specific individual pursuant to Section 5(B) of the Job Referral Rules, the request must be in writing and must be received by the local before the requested individual begins the work assignment. The employer must provide either (1) a pay stub reflecting the last date the individual worked for the employer or (2) provide the date in the letter requesting the individual. The employer's letter must be kept on file by the local union for a period of three years and must be available for inspection or copying by the Investigations and Review Officer on demand.

F.   Publication of Decisions by the Investigations and Review Officer

This Decision and Decision No. 1 issued on March 30, 1994 shall be published in the June/July edition of The Carpenter.

Any subsequent decisions by the Investigations and Review Officer which he determines should be published, shall be published in the next available issue of The Carpenter.

G. Posting of This Decision

This Decision' shall be posted in all local union halls in accordance with the requirements of Section C, above.

Hon. Kenneth Conboy Investigations and

Review Officer

Dated:   June 1, 1994

New York, New York

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