Health Insurance and being hired off street for PT Driver

[GoClassV]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to take PT work as a Driver at UPS as my means of getting health insurance for my wife and 2 kids. I have never worked for UPS so I am having a hard time grasping seniority and how it relates to PT vs FT and Inside Jobs vs Drivers. After reading many of the posts here I am a bit skeptical about this position because even if it is listed as permanent PT, it has no guarantee of hours. The ladies at HR are very good at not answering my questions regarding maintaining my health insurance year around and actual availability of work for this position. So here are my questions:

1. If I was to meet the minimum 225 hours per quarter July-Sept and Oct-Dec, but there was not enough work for me to make my hours the following Jan-Mar, would I have any sort of seniority that would allow me to easily get some sort of warehouse job that would allow me to keep my benefits?

2. Can I pick up a second job with UPS during the slow months? If not and I was able to just switch for slow months, is it hard to go back and forth?

3. Is seniority accrued by hours or by start dates. If by start date, is their a penalty for being PT?

4. What are my chances of being able to maintain health benefits while just doing the PT Driver position year around?

5. Is there any advantage to being a PT Driver vs PT Warehouse in terms of the prospects of someday getting a FT Driver position (other than hourly pay)? Seems like a trade off between pay and guaranteed hours...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[cosmo1]

By PT driver, do you mean a seasonal driver?

 

[PT Car Washer]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to take PT work as a Driver at UPS as my means of getting health insurance for my wife and 2 kids. I have never worked for UPS so I am having a hard time grasping seniority and how it relates to PT vs FT and Inside Jobs vs Drivers. After reading many of the posts here I am a bit skeptical about this position because even if it is listed as permanent PT, it has no guarantee of hours. The ladies at HR are very good at not answering my questions regarding maintaining my health insurance year around and actual availability of work for this position. So here are my questions:

1. If I was to meet the minimum 225 hours per quarter July-Sept and Oct-Dec, but there was not enough work for me to make my hours the following Jan-Mar, would I have any sort of seniority that would allow me to easily get some sort of warehouse job that would allow me to keep my benefits?

2. Can I pick up a second job with UPS during the slow months? If not and I was able to just switch for slow months, is it hard to go back and forth?

3. Is seniority accrued by hours or by start dates. If by start date, is their a penalty for being PT?

4. What are my chances of being able to maintain health benefits while just doing the PT Driver position year around?

5. Is there any advantage to being a PT Driver vs PT Warehouse in terms of the prospects of someday getting a FT Driver position (other than hourly pay)? Seems like a trade off between pay and guaranteed hours...

Thanks for any help you can give me.

My building does not use PT drivers other then PT air drivers.

 

[GoClassV]

The job title is Casual Package Driver. The woman said it was a permanent but Part Time position.....

 

[cosmo1]

The job title is Casual Package Driver. The woman said it was a permanent but Part Time position.....

It's a call you when they need you job. Maybe a day or two a week on average.

I may be wrong, but I don't think it even qualifies for benefits. Even if it does, PTers don't get benefits until 12 months after getting seniority and 18 months for dependents.

 

[PT Car Washer]

The job title is Casual Package Driver. The woman said it was a permanent but Part Time position.....

Must be in the south somewhere. You will be used and abused and thrown away. I believe they call it "being sold down the river".

 

[GoClassV]

It's in the NE..... It's very hard to tell if the people doing the hiring are just practiced at the art of deception and lying though their teeth. They did explicitly say I would be eligible for the health benefits after the 3 months though if I met the 225 hours.

 

[cosmo1]

It's in the NE..... It's very hard to tell if the people doing the hiring are just practiced at the art of deception and lying though their teeth. They did explicitly say I would be eligible for the health benefits after the 3 months though if I met the 225 hours.

Good luck.

HR doesn't necessarily lie so much as not knowing what they are talking about.

 

[FrigidFTSup]

It's in the NE..... It's very hard to tell if the people doing the hiring are just practiced at the art of deception and lying though their teeth. They did explicitly say I would be eligible for the health benefits after the 3 months though if I met the 225 hours.

Not sure how it works, because we don't have that classification. But if I were you, I'd call the Teamster's hall for your local and get the info from them.

HR isn't the best source of info. They're like used car salesmen. They're trying to sell the job to you.

 

[GoClassV]

Oh shoot, it is 210 hours, not 225. I found it on the teamsters website. But I still don't understand PT vs Casual vs Seasonal.... Do they all mean the same thing? And how do they all fit into seniority! I'm gonna try to reach out to someone from the union to see if they can clarify all this. Thanks

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It's a call you when they need you job. Maybe a day or two a week on average.

I may be wrong, but I don't think it even qualifies for benefits. Even if it does, PTers don't get benefits until 12 months after getting seniority and 18 months for dependents.

Casuals get benefits. You have to work x number of hours in this quarter to get benefits for the following quarter.

 

[GoClassV]

After pondering the idea, confirming everything HR had told me with the local steward and making the decision that the position would actually work for me, they must have rescinded their offer as they will not return my phone call. Oh well, best of luck UPSer's!

 

[greenroomgal]

Must be in the south somewhere. You will be used and abused and thrown away. I believe they call it "being sold down the river".

The south provides insurance free of charge for you and your household after a year and one day.