Hardship and Change of station

[Dwc123]

I was recently approved for my hardship transfer from one facility to another.

Without getting into too much detail, this is my second hardship that has been approved. Last time I moved and received change of station leave. This time around our acting ATM is trying to argue that I don't get it according to his LR guy.

I contacted every other person I know who had a successful hardship, and all five expressed that they too had received COS leave (including one that hardshipped from my facility less than a year ago) It says in the contract that you SHALL receive it any time you change your duty station and leaves little to interpretation.

My question is, has anyone ever seen this happen at their facility? Where an ATM tries to deny it and suceeds? I know I have a decent case if I grieved it, and I could always ask my new ATM who is more seasoned than this guy. But I'm just trying to see if anyone has heard of this.

 

[MJ]

There's at least one other thread about this. If ATM won't play ball, contact the RVP or file grievance. You get COS leave every time you pcs.

 

[slater]

 

[CaptainObvious]

View attachment 1774

If you’re quoting that because of the “permanent change of station benefits” portion, that’s misapplied here. That refers to any payments for transfer, not COS leave. That’s covered by another article and is absolutely allowed in the case of a hardship.

 

[slater]

Take it for what its worth. This is the only section that mentioned benefits in the HARDSHIP section. The ATM will argue the section mentions nothing about COS within the terms outlined in the hardship section.. Hate to be "captain obvious" but don't shoot the messenger. I think COS makes sense. If they absolutely won't. Grieve, file FMLA and get the state to subsidize if its dire. But, please give the man this supporting information documentation from "the other section" so he can take it to the ATM instead of "a guy told me I could".

 

[CaptainObvious]

Take it for what its worth. This is the only section that mentioned benefits in the HARDSHIP section. The ATM will argue the section mentions nothing about COS within the terms outlined in the hardship section.. Hate to be "captain obvious" but don't shoot the messenger. I think COS makes sense. If they absolutely won't. Grieve, file FMLA and get the state to subsidize if its dire. But, please give the man this supporting information documentation from "the other section" so he can take it to the ATM instead of "a guy told me I could".

Take it for what it’s worth, but I’ll go with my RVP, HR, and my personal experience on my hardship than “a guy told me I couldn’t” based on a nebulous passage. Read Article 29, section 4. MJ already posted it but says up to 64 hours of excused absence for changing duty stations shall be approved. This is not a PCS “benefit”, it’s a contractual requirement.

 

[Maintainvfr]

Take it for what its worth. This is the only section that mentioned benefits in the HARDSHIP section. The ATM will argue the section mentions nothing about COS within the terms outlined in the hardship section.. Hate to be "captain obvious" but don't shoot the messenger. I think COS makes sense. If they absolutely won't. Grieve, file FMLA and get the state to subsidize if its dire. But, please give the man this supporting information documentation from "the other section" so he can take it to the ATM instead of "a guy told me I could".

Look at article 42 section 5. It has the exact same wording as the hardship article you posted, because PCS benefits are different and exclusive to the bids that list them (n90 and c90 for instance.)

Change of station leave is covered under article 29 section 4. Any change in your official post of duty qualifies for this 64 hours of excused absence. There is another 10 days of house hunting leave that PCS qualifies for, but the 8 days of article 64 time (change of station) is applicable to any change in facility. There is nothing in the hardship article that excludes you from this, and nothing in this article that excludes hardships.

@Dwc123 If your facrep isn't helping you, call your RVP. You can PM me if you need any more help with this.