United has announced a system-wide bid for a limited number of Special Leaves of Absence for the two-month period of December 2008 through January 2009.
Should you choose to bid for one of these leaves it is important to carefully review the company's Special Leave of Absence information, particularly as it pertains to insurance, pass travel, vacation and sick leave accrual. Special leave status will impact each of these benefits and could also impact seniority accrual if on special leave status for more than 180 days in a 12 month period, per Section 23.B. of the Contract.
Flight Attendants awarded special leaves totaling 180 days or more within a 12 month period will not accrue seniority for each of the days in excess of 180 days on special leave status.
We continue to advocate management carefully reviews the schedule prior to awarding any Special Leaves, especially as other schedule options remain available such as 30-day and daily ANP. These schedule options would not interfere with your benefits. The only exception to this is the award of 30-day ANP directly touching another 30-day ANP or single day of ANP without at least one day off in between. This circumstance would trigger change of status to a Personal Leave of Absence, which would also affect benefits.
Bidding for the Special Leave of Absence
After carefully reviewing all of the information about a Special Leave of Absence, bidding for the December/January leave may be accomplished through your LOAREQ screen starting today, November 7th, through Friday, November 14th at 0830 Central Time. A special leave TYPE in the bid screen is indicated by the abbreviation "SP" and the dates of the leave should be listed as scheduled month dates, which include 12/1/08 - 01/31/09. Awards will be posted by 1730 Chicago Time on Friday, the 14th of November.
Whether you intend to bid or not, every Flight Attendant should check the LOAREQ screen to ensure there is not a request on file that is no longer wanted. This is especially important since your benefits could be affected with the award of a Special Leave of Absence.