The rural craft is a very special pay system. We have provisions and rules that do not apply to any other job in this country. It was a long hard process just to keep the evaluated pay system intact. If you’ve ever wondered how or why the rural craft is the way it is, then this should answer a lot of questions. This should be read by all rural carriers because it gives you a background knowledge of our everyday work life!
On May 1st 1974, The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was amended to include all Postal employees. It was not until sometime later that year that the Postal Service and the NRLCA became aware of the serious impact it would have on the Rural Carrier Pay system. In its current form it was not compatible with the FLSA.
In its normal application, Section 7(a) requires that overtime compensation is payable at 150% of the regular hourly rate for any week that an employee actually works in excess of 40 hours. Most rural carriers worked nearly every week in excess of 40 hours. Although the evaluated system is computed at an overtime rate for all hours in excess of 40, it is not considered overtime because it is considered a basic annual salary.
Unless a solution to the problem could be found, the time honored pay system for rural carriers would have to have been abandoned and would have to go to straight hourly rate of pay.
