Observed Thanksgiving Holidays for GenOn, Pepco and WGL (Frederick)

All three companies that IBEW Local 1900 represents will observe Thanksgiving Day Thursday November 25th and the Day After Thanksgiving Friday November 26th as their observed company holidays.

If you have any questions regarding the Thanksgiving holidays, please refer to your Collective Bargaining Agreement or feel free to contact one of our Union stewards or IBEW Local 1900 directly at (301) 322-6030.

Fraternally,

Jerry R. Williford Jr.
President, Business Manager and Financial Secretary
IBEW Local 1900

GenOn Benefits Annual Enrollment

Benefits Annual Enrollment began, Monday, October 25th and runs through Friday, November 5th. Your benefit elections will be in effect beginning January 1, 2022. Go to www.MyGenOnBenefits.com to enroll:

* Review your 2021 elections and make any updates to your benefits for 2022. If this is your first visit to the Benefits Center enrollment site, you will need to register and create a new username and password.

* Declare your tobacco status. If you use tobacco, tobacco products, or don’t answer this question, you will pay more for your medical benefits.

* Ensure you are covering eligible dependents. Children can be covered up to age 26. There is a spousal surcharge for enrolling in the $30 Copay Plan when spouses are eligible for coverage through their own employers. This surcharge may not pertain to certain unions, refer to your collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

* Determine your contributions to discretionary accounts. The Health Savings Account (HSA), Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DSA) all offer tax savings. The enrollment guides help you walk through the decision-making process of which options may be right for you. Your specific enrollment guide can be found on the GenOn Benefits Center website under “Resources.”

* Summary of Benefits Coverage. The 2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) can also be found on the GenOn Benefits Center’s website. The SBC is an easy-to-read summary that compares cost and coverage between health plans. You can compare health care options based on price, benefits, and other features that may be important to you and your family.

Please feel free to reach out to a GenOn Benefits Service Center representative for information or assistance. Contact information is below.

Phone: Benefits Service Center at 833-539-4600

Website: www.MyGenOnBenefits.com

Email: HR@genon.com

Why not give your other benefits an annual checkup?

Since you are in the mindset, this is a perfect time to review your other accounts to make sure they are up to date. Contact information for all plan providers is available in the benefits enrollment guide.

Life Insurance: Review to ensure your beneficiaries are current.
401(k) account: Make sure you are deducting your desired pre-tax amounts and review your designated beneficiaries.

Pepco Open Enrollment is November 4th – 17th, 2021.

Open enrollment information has been mailed to employees.

It’s time to start considering your benefit needs for 2022. Please read the newsletter for reminders and information about important changes.

You need to act only if you want to make changes to your benefit coverage options, or if you want to contribute to a health care or dependent care flexible spending account or to a health savings account for 2022, because those elections do not carry forward.

If you need any additional information call 1-877-7EXELON (1-877-739-3566)

Vaccine Mandates – Legal Issues

Q: Can an employer require vaccines as a condition of employment?

A: Yes. Federal law does not prohibit employers from mandating vaccines as a condition of employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has stated that mandates do not violate either the Americans with Disabilities Act or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, although both of those laws require employers to provide certain exceptions. A few states bar vaccine mandates, so check your state law. However, with respect to federal contractors, those laws may be preempted by the President’s Executive Orders discussed below.

Q: What are the exceptions?

A: Employees who cannot get the vaccine for medical reasons or who have sincerely held religious objections to the vaccine may seek an accommodation from the mandate. Employers are to evaluate each request for an exemption and, working with the employee, determine whether there is an accommodation that would permit the employee to continue to perform the job in a manner that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer or pose a “direct threat” to the health of the employee or others in the workplace.

Q: Doesn’t the employer have to bargain with the union?

A: As a general matter, requiring vaccines as a condition of employment is a mandatory subject of bargaining. However, whether your employer can implement a mandate without bargaining depends on the language in your collective bargaining agreement and whether the mandate is required by law (for example, under the Executive Orders described below).
Even if the union cannot bargain over the decision to require vaccines, it can
bargain over the effects of that decision – that is, how the mandate will be implemented.

Q: If the union can’t bargain over the mandate, what can it bargain over?

A: There are many issues about how the mandate will be implemented, including:
• How the exceptions will be determined
• The status of employees who refuse the vaccine
• Compensation for time spent getting the vaccine
• Paid leave for employees who react to the vaccine
• How the employer will verify vaccination
• Testing as an alternative (and if so, who pays for time/expense)
Even the Executive Orders requiring vaccines leave many implementation issues unanswered and therefore open to bargaining.

Q: What is in President Biden’s Executive Orders?

A: The President issued three Executive Orders regarding workplace vaccinations:
• Federal employees:
* All Federal employees must be fully vaccinated by November 22, 2021.
* There are medical/religious exceptions for employees who can be
accommodated.
• Federal contractors and their subcontractors:
* Applies to contracts entered into, extended, or revised after November 14,2021.
* All employees working on or in connection with a covered contract must be vaccinated by December 8, 2021. (“In connection” with a contract means performing work necessary for the performance of the contract.)
* With some exceptions, the Executive Order also applies to a covered
contractor’s employees who are not working on the covered contract but are in the contractor’s workplace.
* There are medical/religious exceptions for employees who can be accommodated.

• OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS)
* Directed OSHA to issue an ETS covering employers with 100 or more employees, requiring vaccines or testing for employers.

Q: Isn’t it unconstitutional for the government to mandate vaccines?

A: No, as early as 1905, the Supreme Court held in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that the government may mandate vaccines. In that case, the Court rejected a challenge to a law requiring all residents to be vaccinated against smallpox. The Court held that although individuals have a constitutionally-protected liberty interest in personal autonomy, that right is outweighed by the state’s interest protecting the public.

Q: Doesn’t it violate HIPPAA to ask me about my vaccination status?

A: No. First, HIPPAA does not apply to how your employer handles medical information. It only prevents medical providers from disclosing patient information. The ADA does, however, limit and impose confidentiality requirements on the medical information your employer can obtain. According to the EEOC, the ADA permits your employer to ask your vaccine status. However, the employer cannot ask why you are not vaccinated, and the employer must treat any documentation confidentially.
Some states, however, have prohibited inquiring about vaccine status, so check your state law.

Q: Is it legal to require employees to get vaccines that only have Emergency Use authorization (EUA)?

A: Yes. The vaccines’ EUA status does not bar public or private entities from requiring vaccines as a condition of employment. Language in the statute authorizing EUA suggested that the people getting the vaccines must be told it is optional, but the courts have made clear this refers to information the healthcare providers must give when administering the vaccines. And, the courts have said, even under a mandate, the vaccines are optional since employees always have the choice to decline the vaccine and seek employment elsewhere.
In any event, one of the three vaccines available in the United States is now fully licensed, and it is expected the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon fully license the other two as well.

Q: Don’t I get greater legal protections with the fully-licensed vaccines?

A: No. In announcing its approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the FDA stated that the vaccine with EUA and the full-licensed vaccine were identical in their composition, safety and effectiveness, but that they were “legally distinct.” The FDA has since made clear this meant that the EUA was approved for individuals ages 12 and up, while the licensed vaccine had been approved for individuals 16 and older, and that the vaccines may have been manufactured in different approved facilities.

Q: If I am terminated for refusing to get vaccinated, can I collect unemployment insurance?

A: That’s a question of state law. Many states either deny or delay benefits to employees terminated “for cause.”

Q: If I have an adverse reaction to the vaccine, can I collect workers comp?

A: Again, this is a question of state law. However, if you suffer an injury as a result of an employer-mandated vaccination, this would be covered as a work-related injury. Some states have issued guidelines addressing Covid-related coverage. Additionally, as stated above, compensation for time off for anyone who suffers an adverse reaction to the vaccine is something the union can negotiate through effects bargaining.

Q: What can the union do about all this?

A: So far, every court that has considered employer mandates has found them lawful, although in a few cases, individuals have successfully pursued their rights to exceptions. However, as explained above, the union can demand bargaining. If the employer is not legally required to mandate vaccines, it may be possible to bargain over the decision to require them, depending on the language of your collective bargaining agreement. But if the agreement, for example, allows the employer to implement reasonable safety rules or otherwise grants the employer the right to implement new rules, current NLRB law makes it unlikely that the union will be
able to bargain over the decision to require the vaccine. Even if it cannot bargain over the decision, the union can bargain over its effects, i.e., its implementation

IBEW Local 1900 Sisters and Brothers,

For the past couple of months, the IBEW Organizing Committee and Local 1900 have been organizing the employees of Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative in Virginia.

IBEW Local 1900 is thrilled to inform you that a petition had been filed today, August 13, 2021, with the National Labor Relation Board. (NRLB) to organize Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative. As with any election, it is important that employees have the right to have their their voices heard. This election will be conducted by agents of the National Labor Relation Board. (NRLB)

A union contract is the only way to guarantee that you will always have a seat at the table.

As we move forward, IBEW Local 1900 will keep our website updated with our Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative organizing efforts.

Please contact the Union office if you have any questions.

In Solidarity,

Jerry R. Williford Jr.
President, Business Manager, Financial Secretary
IBEW Local Union 1900

IBEW Local 1900 Washington Gas Frederick members voted 100% to ratify a new 5-year contract today. The contract will now expire on July 31, 2026.

A special thank you to the negotiating team members Julie Eyler, Jeff Smith and Vedesh Bisnath for their efforts in reaching the agreement with Washington Gas.

In Solidarity,
Jerry R. Williford Jr.
IBEW Local 1900
President, Business Manager, Financial Secretary

IBEW Local 1900 Brothers and Sisters,

Due to a vacancy the Executive Board will select a Local 1900 member to fill the unexpired term of the Pepco Distribution Board member from interested and qualified candidates at its August 26, 2021 regular meeting.

The Pepco Distribution Executive Board position represents all Pepco members in Distribution Test, Overhead Lines, Transformer/Network and Underground Lines classifications.

Please refer to the IBEW Constitution, Article 16, and Local 1900 Bylaws, Article 3.

Interested Local 1900 members who qualify for consideration to fill the Executive Board vacancy must notify Vice President Richard "Ricky" Dawson in writing of such interest no later that the close of business on Monday August 23, 2021. This can be accomplished via email, fax or letter.

Contact information for Vice President Richard "Ricky" Dawson:
Email:
luoffice@ibew1900.org

Fax:
301-322-6181

Mail:
IBEW Local 1900
1400 Mercantile Lane
Suite 256
Largo, Maryland 20774

Local 1900 Reaches Tentative Agreement with Washington Gas – Frederick Station

Local 1900 and Washington Gas reached a tentative agreement for a new 5-year collective bargaining agreement expiring August 2025.

On Tuesday July 27, 2021, at 7AM the Local 1900 Negotiating Team will meet with the Washington Gas employees at the Frederick Station to discuss the proposed contract agreement.

Please contact Local 1900 if you have any questions prior to the meeting.

In Solidarity,

Jerry R. Williford Jr.
IBEW Local 1900
President, Business Manager, Financial Secretary

IBEW Local 1900 Brothers and Sisters,

Due to a vacancy the Executive Board will select a Local 1900 member to fill the unexpired term of the Pepco Distribution Board member from interested and qualified candidates at its July 22, 2021 regular meeting.

The Pepco Distribution Executive Board position represents all Pepco members in Distribution Test, Overhead Lines, Transformer/Network and Underground Lines classifications.

Please refer to the IBEW Constitution, Article 16, and Local 1900 Bylaws, Article 3.

Interested Local 1900 members who qualify for consideration to fill the Executive Board vacancy must notify Vice President Richard "Ricky" Dawson in writing of such interest no later that the close of business on Monday July 19, 2021. This can be accomplished via email, fax or letter.

Contact information for Vice President Richard "Ricky" Dawson:
Email:
luoffice@ibew1900.org

Fax:
301-322-6181

Mail:
IBEW Local 1900
1400 Mercantile Lane
Suite 256
Largo, Maryland 20774

Local 1900's July Membership Meetings

Central Membership Meeting

Monday July 12, 2021

Time: 5:00 PM

Location:

Residence Inn by Marriott Largo Capital Beltway
1330 Caraway Court
Largo, MD 20774

North Membership Meeting

Wednesday July 14, 2021

Time: 5:00 PM

Location:

Hampton Inn
5311 Buckeystown Pike
Frederick, MD 21704

South Membership Meeting

Thursday July 15, 2021

Time: 4:00 PM

Hughesville American Legion
6265 Brandywine Road
Hughesville, MD 20637