Not all T3's are treated equally but it does hurt that you had another accident in the past 9 months, even though the first one was not a T3.
I had a major T3, old P-500 with manual everything..one wheel drive wonder..during late October in dry conditions but just a patch of ice on a bridge caused a 60mph fishtail that I could not steer out of. Hit the guard rail and an abandoned park car on the shoulder and went over onto my side (drivers side) and was basically sliding across the highway on my side. Totalled the P-500 (which many drivers later jokingly thanked me for) as well as the parked car. I didn't have a scratch on me. Got free from my lap belt (yes, this car had no shoulder strap) and climbed out the passenger side door which was now the "roof".
I was running an air pickup route with only a few strategic delivery stops. Mgmt came out with another car, we salvaged all but two packages out of the wreck, loaded them up and I continued the route with a sup on board. He was actually very supportive.
Within nine months, and coincidentally while I was covering the same route, I slid on ice at an intersection and tapped the car in front of me. You had to look hard at the lady's bumper to see a small brown scratch. She was fine and really just wanted to leave as she was late to get somewhere. But I figured that a non-reported accident would be far worse than this minor ding. Since the lady was on her way to the airport and our center is at the airport I convinced her to stop at the center with me so center manager could take pic of her bumper. I called center manager and told him situation and he agreed with me that that was best. No way was she gonna stay at the scene and wait for mgmt to show up.
My center manager said I would probably get a warning letter since it was two in nine months.. however because it was a hit other in rear (no matter how slight) it was still a T3 and word came down from on high that I was to be terminated.
The contract does not recognize T3, instead it lays out circumstances under which you can be term for accidents. This accident, although it was classed a T3 by UPS, did not fit the contract definition of a termination offense so of course I got my job back. I sat out nine work days, the company paid me for three of them and called the rest a suspension. I think most of the time that the company terminates drivers they do it knowing that the driver will be back, they just feel it's a way to get the driver's attention.
The difference between me and you is that I was a full time driver when this happened. As you have gathered there are different rules in different parts of the country.. here we have full time cover drivers as well as (by local supplement) "Utility Drivers" who hold regular part time "inside" jobs (many of them are not inside as we are an air gateway, but you get the idea) but can be called over to drive if all FT drivers including FT covers like me are already in the game.
As a FT I got my job back with a loss of six days pay. However, since you have not gone on your packet yet I fear this may keep you from being able to go FT at least for some time. We had a Utility get into two accidents in one week, he is back on the preload but I heard my center manager say "he will never drive again". Waiting to see if they renig and use this driver during peak.
Regardless, keep in contact with your BA, mine was great while I waited out the "process". I called in every am to see if I was in service, finally on day nine they told me to come in next am early. We had a meeting, my termination was reduced to a six day suspension, three days were paid as grievance. That was almost five years ago.
Good luck to you. UPS is good job (sometimes just too much of a good thing!) but there are thousands of drivers so no, they don't care about you the way a small family business might care about their employees. But then most of those jobs don't pay 100K a year. This may push the day you get full FT top pay down the road a year or more, but if you keep you nose clean your time should come back around. It may also help that we are coming into peak and you have experience and route knowledge. Hope it works out for you and keep us posted.