On February 21st, MSA's attorneys filed a request for a settlement conference to discuss the following disagreements:
- Whether individual defendants will bear responsibility for the settlement payments if the $14.5 million settlement is not paid in full.
- The amount of any default penalty in the event payment is not made and a letter of credit Defendant MSA Security is posting is not honored.
- Whether settlement funds will revert to the defendants if: (i) certain class or collective members yet to receive notice of the case decline to join the case; or (ii) plaintiffs fail to cash their settlement checks.
The individual defendants are Mike O'Neil, Glen Kucera, and George Harvey. The judge has scheduled conference for March 8th. A settlement agreement will now be due on March 18th.
Union
The first negotiation meeting between the UFK9H and MSA occurred on February 13th. MSA's lawyers were provided with a long list of what handlers all over the country have requested. They will be reviewing the list with their clients and will be in touch soon.
The National Labor Relations Board continues to investigate our charges against MSA which you can find here. They have also decided to dismiss the charges filed against us by MSA which you can find here.
The NLRB has also found merit to our charges that the implementation of the new Canine Home Care Policy and the reduction of the expense stipend were violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB is currently in the process of preparing an informal settlement agreement. We will continue to fight for the return of the $400 expense stipend, backpay for the months it was reduced, and the ability to negotiate the terms and conditions of the home care policy.
Service Contract Act
Many of you have received the following email from our new "Chief HR Officer" Peter Capizzi.
Dear Handler,
You recently received a notice from the MSA HR Department notifying you of the prevailing wage and fringe benefits associated with posts you work under the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA). Due primarily to your paystub not previously breaking out your total pay on SCA projects that you worked on, you will be shortly notified by the US Department of Labor that you will be receiving compensation for the breakout omission. Your SCA work is now broken out separately on your paystub.
As a rapidly growing international company, we always strive to meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Therefore, when we found we had made administrative errors, we corrected them. More importantly, we introduced longer-term solutions, such as EPAY and UltiPro, to make certain the errors are not made in the future. Our commitment is to always act with integrity and continue to find ways to enhance our business for our clients and our employees.
Should you have any questions on this matter please feel free to send a note to HR@msasecurity.net.
Sincerely,
Peter Capizzi | Chief HR Officer
This is Mr. Capizzi's first communication with us and it seems like he's been fed some incorrect information. MSA did not correct an administrative error as soon as they had found it. MSA was first informed in July 2017 that there was a possibility they weren't in compliance with the Service Contract Act. They did nothing except respond with hostility. We filed a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor which then conducted an investigation of MSA. Now 160 handlers will be compensated nearly $250,000 in unpaid fringe benefits. Here is a link to our original post about the Service Contract Act in April of 2018.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to email us at nopaymsa@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post. Stay strong, stay united.
Excellent update and a thank you to our union leadership. Fight the good fight. Could this be an indication that MSA has no intention of paying the settlement they agreed to by filing for bankruptcy? Our attorney's know best but I smell a rat. Regarding the Service Contract Act - one of our executives, Keith Mulcahy is made aware of the discrepancy well over a year ago and he does nothing with the information except get angry at the handler who is educated enough to call him on it. Keith's indifference and arrogance to a serious labor issue caused more economic hardship for the handlers and will end up costing MSA even more money by not addressing it at the time. He did however accomplish a great deal that day by chastising a good handler for having the audacity to sip a cup of coffee. Good job Keith, that must have been a productive day for you. I'm sure you enjoyed a nice lunch that day on the MSA dime. You would not know good leadership if it bit you on the butt. The foul odor of executive arrogance and contempt that oozes out of 9 Murray Street permeates all of us, but we still go out and do our job, stand our post answer the phone when they call, put ourselves in harm's way, take care of our dogs, all so we can feed our families. Don't the owners of MSA ever hold anyone in management accountable for the mess that MSA has become? We are left to wonder. Just imagine where we'd be if not for the UFK9 Handlers.
ReplyDeleteHow does the Handlers in California get ahold of the Union representative? We haven't heard from anyone on the west coast yet, and we have issues that need addressing ASAP with wrongful suspensions, retaliation etc any contact info?
ReplyDeleteemail info@nopaymsa.com
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