CLEVELAND, October 26 — BLET members and other operating employees covered by the National Agreement who have moved between train service and engine service (ebb/flow) during the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 — and who have received a notice assigning them to a different Health and Welfare (H&W) plan on January 1, 2012 — are reminded that the deadline to elect to remain in their current plan will expire next week.
Because of recent negotiated changes in the United Transportation Union’s negotiated health and welfare plan, which covers train service employees, several differences may exist between that plan and the GA-23000 Plan, that the BLET participates in, covering engine service employees, along with the rest of rail labor.
For engine service and train service personnel who ebb and flow between engine service and train service positions, enrollment is determined by the July 1, 2004 Agreement between the BLET, UTU and the National Railway Labor Conference (click here to view PDF). Generally, enrollment is based on whether the employee made the preponderance (majority) of his/her earnings in engine service or in train service during the 12 month period ending the preceding June 30. For 2012, the ebb/flow period runs from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.
Ebb/flow employees who made the preponderance of their earnings in a craft different from the craft covered by the plan they now participate in have received a notice/option form advising them that their coverage will change next year. However, an ebb/flow employee has the right to elect to remain enrolled in his/her current Plan for the succeeding calendar year, irrespective of the preponderance test. Therefore, an ebb/flow employee enrolled in GA-23000 during 2011 may remain in that plan for 2012, even if the preponderance of his/her earnings was made in train service.
In order to exercise the right to remain in the current health plan, an ebb/flow employee must sign and return the election form that was included in the recently mailed open enrollment packets for health and welfare benefits for 2012. This same election must be made on an annual basis, during the open enrollment period, to remain in the current plan if the preponderance of earnings is in a different service than the plan in which the ebb/flow employee is currently enrolled. If the employee does not sign and return the election form on a timely basis, then he/she will be enrolled as dictated by the preponderance test.
It is important to note that the open enrollment period for the H&W Plan began on October 3, 2011 and runs through November 4, 2011. Railroad Enrollment Services must receive the completed open enrollment forms no later than November 4, 2011.
If you are being told that your participation in a H&W Plan is being changed, due to preponderance of earnings, and you did not receive the election form in your open enrollment packet, you should immediately contact Railroad Enrollment Services at 1-800-753-2692 if you want to remain in your current plan.