I need to vent...

flower

flower

Well-Known Member
I need to vent against Metra, the railroad I have worked on for the better part of my life..35 years and 2 months.
I told you guys I was Okayed for occupational disability. I may not be completely crippled but I can’t work on the trains anymore. I was granted my annuity to start my first check on Nov 1 this year.
I put in for my 401K…I’m waiting for an auto deposit of around $4000.00 from principal , another $3000.00 from the Hartford and 14 days of vacation pay of around $2600.00…I’m checking my bank account on line each day.
Today I get a call from the 401K folks…they checked with Metra, and they told them I was still employed, I was on long term disability of 1 year and still could come back to work…I’m just on medical leave. They decide I must have falsified the Railroad retirement board letter of acceptance and recorded the conversation when they called me to ask for an explanation.
I call Metra…if I could have crawled through the phone line to choke that woman…God help me I would have. Metra Medical…the bane of my existence…tells me I could get better in a few years and come back to work.
Now folks, I have degenerated knee joints on both knees (nearly bone to bone) I have severe arthritis in both feet, with new bone growing where it shouldn’t. I can hardly walk and that also is degenerative.
As time passes it can only get worse, and Metra medical (a panel of doctors) insists I might just come back some day. So the lady tells me the only way to not be on long term disability is to quit Metra in writing….To give my name, work ID number and quit saying I will relinquish all rights to the job.
If I quit, I lose EVERYTHING. I told the lady she was nuts. So I call the yard office…I tell the secretary…a lowly secretary…what’s going on…she says I just have to officially retire by submitting in writing my intent to relinquish my job position, and not return to work again. That’s a big leap from quitting.
Now I have been dealing with these people for the last 7 months …Metra Medical, Metra’s main office, my supervisor, human resources department, the railroad retirement board and my own foreman, and not one person said a single word about officially retiring by putting it in writing…..I had spoken on the phone from the beginning telling them that I won’t be returning, and have put in for permanent disability.
I also called the 401K guys and was told all I needed was an acceptance letter from the retirement board saying I have been awarded my annuity.
They wait until I’m waiting on a check to drop this little bomb shell….I have no idea how long it will take to clear this monkey wrench out of the works. Now I have no idea what it will take to get the ball rolling again to get my money out of Metra for my 401K and vacation time…
Oh and the icing on the cake.. get this…I have 23 days of banked sick days, the secretary tells me I am not allowed to cash in on that if I have under 30 sick bank days…that means I lose it. I made $181.00 each day and each sick day was worth that amount of pay…I get 1 banked sick day for each year I went without being injured. That’s $4163.00 they don’t have to pay out. 23 years to build it up and I won’t get it, nor did they ever offer me my 23 days when I was off ..you know, on long term disability off sick…..according to them.
The secretary promised to call the 401K guys to straighten out the misunderstanding so I won't go to jail for fraud. That one little secretary has it more together than the entire company...I could just scream.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///t/387547/i-need-to-vent#post_3410819
SUMTHING sounds screwy.....if you retire, then you don;t get disability pay....right????
No, I get the disability...it was awarded to me already..I retired on occupational disability. I think it means that I can't get anymore sick benifits, which would be fine with me because the Railroad retirement money pays it back anyway. However I need the amounts I requested to live on until Nov 1...I may not see any money until October when the RRB pays the back pay from March 23rd. That will be retro pay and I have no idea what that amount might be.
It's just that I think out of all those people in authority, somebody would have known that I needed to put my intent to retire in writing. That until I did, I technically worked for Metra and was just on sick leave...and if Metra believed I was only on sick leave why didn't they pay me the 23 days of sick pay I had banked? I could have used if I was off sick, but if I don't have 30 accumulated, they don't do a payout when you retire. So slick like a ribbon I will be shorted $4163.00...that's quite a mistake on their part that cost me plenty.
So the company didn't pay me for sick time at all, the benifits I recieved must be repaid from my retirement annuity retro pay.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
OHHHH...sorry....misunderstood about the retirement thing
You know....it is ridiculous how often in companies.....the right hand...HAS NO CLUE....what the left is doing....and "we" get penalized
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///t/387547/i-need-to-vent#post_3410842
OHHHH...sorry....misunderstood about the retirement thing
You know....it is ridiculous how often in companies.....the right hand...HAS NO CLUE....what the left is doing....and "we" get penalized

So very true.
I retire once in a lifetime...the leaders of the company deals with folks retiring all the time....they have a check list and nowhere does it say to put anything concerning my intentions in writing.
I didn't have so much as a sneeze from the railroad retirement board, everything went as smooth as butter. Metra Medical has driven me nuts from day 1...In fact I wrote those numb skulls an e-mail stateing that I was not returning to work..EVER.. that I had applied for railroad retirement...and I asked them what I should do next. They sent me a bunch of forms to have my doctor fill out...I jumped through every hoop and they gave me 1 week off...because they said my doctor had an apointment in a week with me. I told them my doctor saw me all the time, but he didn't want to fill out papers each time...stupid people.
Oh well...My mother wants me to come sit in the living room and watch some Tv with her...she has called me to come in there in twice now.
So have a good night....
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
If you were receiving disability from the time you stopped working they probably can't pay you the sick days too
401k You know you still have to pay the taxes on the withdraw right? Considering how much the market has been down it might be a better deal to wait until the first of next year to pull that out if you worked much this year and can afford to wait. If you didn't make much wages it probably wont be much difference.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Reefraff....The 401K is not the one where you save from your paycheck. We got rewards of $75.00 for working safe, and it was put in a 401K, it's not money I personally ever put in. I know taxes are paid on it, but it isn't enough to try and use as an extra income which is what 401K was for. It's reward cash I got over the years for safety incentives. They started 401K way after I started working, so I don't have much in there...the new folks from 10 years ago will have quite a nest egg in theirs when they retire.
The railroad had lots of perks, not when I first started, but later on they added all kinds of stuff. We get 5 personal days...LOL...back when I started they stopped allowing us to ride free on the trains, and getting our birthdays off...I just missed the date for those perks, anyone who started after 1973 couldn't ride free...I started in January 1976. Now a new person starting out makes the same pay an old timer does, he gets less vacation time, and has low senority, but he gets his 5 personal days and 3 sick days after one year... and as time passes he builds the vacation time. I had 5 weeks vacation when I left.
When I first went off work, I called and asked what I should do. The company sent me the paperwork to fill out in a packet. I did exactly as instructed. Now I find out what SHOULD have happened was... THEY should have paid me 23 days off the top from my banked sick days, those are paid as wages and an effort to prevent me from digging into my RRB funds (that is my retirement nest). THEN if I was still unable to work THEY should have put me on long term disability. I always had the right to call the Railroad Retirement Borad and put in for permanent disability. IF and only IF, after the RRB looked at my doctors info and they decided that I was no longer able to do my job THEY decide if I am occupaionally disabled and grant me permanent disabilty. The RRB back tracks and pays for any time I lost from when I first applied, and sick pay that was taken from my RRBs sick benifits are repaid from the retro pay. (not the banked sick days, those are considered wages)
The proper protocols were not followed, the banked sick days that I didn't use are also supposed to be paid out when a person retires, now I am told they only pay out the banked sick days if they are over 30...I only have 23, so since it wasn't used, I just lost that money.
Desertsawg... I need a huge little guy laying in the floor laughing. My union, whom we pay $80.00 a month to...does absolutly NOTHING. We pay them to keep a job. In the 35 years I worked for the railroad I needed them 2Xs. Now back in the day, 25 years ago the union was power and they were useful.
Fast forward 10 years ago... The last time I needed the union. My company had decided we had to get hold of a human being to tell them we would be off sick. We could no longer leave a message. I was so sick one night, I called the regular boss and got an answering machine..I left a message anyway, and decided to try the main building because I needed to talk to a person, when I called, a janitor (I worked night shift) in the main building said he would find someone because the building was empty. I fell asleep waiting with the phone to my ear and did not awake until 9:00 the next morning. I was charged with a no call, no show, I could have been fired on those charges. Even though I had left a message on the ansewering machine, and tried to get a person and couldn't.
5 times a hearing was set up, and 5Xs my union rep was away on vacation (getting dues per person in the union will pay for lots of vacations)...I landed up waiving my rights to a union rep and got a warning letter out of the investigation. Bottom line, the union is usless. They are supposed to also put around $200.00 extra into my pension money and give me a larger annuity each month...I'm not holding my breath. I put in for it, and will be very surprised if they hold up their end of the bargain. Right now I have a letter from them demanding union dues that I haven't paid since "June"...???? I have been off work since March, they have their head in their butts. I wrote them a nice letter asking about the retirement fund, and informed them I have been off work since March....I have not heard from them to date, and frankly I don't expect to...whoever is in charge of that is away on vacation no doubt. IF a rep ever gets in touch wirh me, I will certainly mention all the mess that's going on...I may be 80 years old by then....LOL...and since I haven't paid my dues I won't be entitled to it.
 
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