Section 1
In addition to the regular deductions authorized by Agency directives for national and local Union dues, the Agency shall permit employees to voluntarily designate four (4) additional allotments from their pay, provided said allotments are for a lawful purpose deemed appropriate by the head of the Agency, as permitted by 5 CFR 550.311(b).
Section 2
An employee electing to have a voluntary deduction would complete a voluntary deduction election form. On this form, the employee would designate the institution and the amount he/she elects to have regularly deducted from their pay and forwarded to the Union. The employee would then forward this form to the Union.
Section 3
The Union will review the form for completeness and verify that the employee submitting the form is eligible for the program. The Union would then forward the form to the employee's payroll processing center.
Section 4
At the payroll processing center, the payroll technician will again review the form for completeness. Following review, the form would be entered into the Agency's payroll system. Upon entry, the data would be edited to ensure that:
a. a record for the employee exists on the Employee Master Record;
b. the employee's job series equals 2152; and
c. the amount being withheld does not exceed $5,000.
These actions would be completed by the end of the pay period following the pay period in which the document was received.
Section 5
Upon entry and acceptance of the above data into the Agency's payroll system, the amount designated will be withheld each pay period from the employee's salary. The Agency's payroll system will accumulate all amounts withheld per pay period and prepare and forward to the Treasury Disbursing Office a Standard Form 1166 (SF-1166), Voucher and Schedule of Payments, for a single payment in the amount of the total accumulated deductions. In addition, the Agency's payroll system will generate and forward to the Union a detailed report by region listing each employee, the employee's address, and amount withheld in support of the amount remitted each pay period. The Agency's payroll system will also record accumulated year-to-date (pay year) totals for each individual's deductions and will cease taking deductions when the amount deducted would cause the year-to-date total deduction to exceed $5,000. The report will be provided to the Union electronically.
Section 6
Responsibilities.
a. Employee
(1) Completes voluntary deduction election form designating the institution and amount to be regularly withheld.
(2) Ensures that the deduction has been initiated and is for the correct amount on his/her Earnings and Leave Statement.
b. Union
(1) Verifies employee's eligibility to elect voluntary deduction.
(2) Forwards all validated election forms to the employee's payroll processing center.
(3) Promptly notifies the payroll processing center when an employee is no longer eligible to participate in the program.
(4) Provides refunds to employees for amounts erroneously deducted.
c. Payroll Processing Center
(1) Promptly processes all voluntary deduction election forms and cancellation requests.
(2) Informs employee of any problems with processing the voluntary deduction.
(3) Returns to the Union any voluntary deduction forms that cannot be processed.
d. Payroll Operations Branch
(1) Ensures voluntary deductions are withheld by the Agency's payroll system and are remitted to the Union.
(2) Verifies amounts withheld by Agency's payroll system and remitted to the Union equals the supporting detail report.
Section 7
Miscellaneous.
a. Employees are eligible to elect or cancel a voluntary deduction to the Union at any time. The election form may be used for both electing or cancelling a voluntary deduction.
b. In order of precedence, voluntary deductions for the Union will be taken after Union dues are deducted, if the employee has a deduction for Union dues. Otherwise, the order of precedence is handled as any other voluntary deduction.
c. Payroll processing centers will be responsible for cancelling and reestablishing the voluntary deduction when an employee transfers between payroll processing centers.