Good afternoon all,

The attached T&E DUI Conviction – Suspension and/or Revocation of Driver’s License Notification Form is to be utilized effective immediately when informed by a T&E employee of a DUI conviction.

The form is self-explanatory and will address reporting and record keeping of Train and Engine (T&E) personnel DUI convictions.  The form must be filled out by the convicted T&E employee and signed by the employee and Transportation Supervisor.  The Supervisor must then email the completed form to the Rules Department Group, EAP and the Office of System Safety.  A copy must be provided to the convicted employee by the Supervisor of signature on said form.  The convicted employee must contact NJT EAP to schedule an evaluation.

The completed DUI Conviction Notification form will be filed in the employee’s Certification Folder at the Rules Department.

As per NJ Bill S20 (attached), which was passed and signed into law by former Governor Chris Christie in August of 2016, an Engineer whose driver’s license is suspended or revoked for driving while intoxicated or refusing to take a breathalyzer test in NJ or any other state is prohibited from operating, during the period of suspension or revocation, any New Jersey Transit Corporation locomotive or train.  This NJ law applies to Engineers only.  Therefore an Engineer will be OOS pursuant to NJ State Law and EAP evaluation.  A Conductor will be OOS pending EAP evaluation.  Neither the Conductor or Engineer are subject to decertification.

The following information is regarding the NJT Drug and Alcohol Program and is separate from DUIs.

As a reminder, DUI convictions do NOT meet criteria for decertification of T&E Certificates, unlike positive results from NJT Drug and Alcohol Tests which DO meet criteria for decertification (CFR §240.117 (e)(6) and CFR §242.117 (e)(6)).  Any positive NJT D&A test result for T&E must be followed up by a Notification of Certificate Suspension letter (Samples attached) to the tested employee within 96 hours of NJT Supervision being aware of the positive test result. 

In addition, as per CFR regulations §242.115 (4)(iii) and §240.119 (4)(iii):  Certified Locomotive Engineers or Certified Conductors who tests positive for alcohol on a NJT FRA alcohol tests (i.e. Random tests) are ineligible to hold their certificate for a period of 9 months.  This does not apply to positive drug tests, only alcohol.  The 9 month suspension also applies to drug/alcohol tests “refusals”.

NJT’s Drug and Alcohol Policy 3.25B can be viewed in its entirety in NJT’s TRO-12 (Section 6).

Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.

Thank you,

Fred

Fred Cruz, DSLE, DSPC

System T&E Compliance Officer

1148 Newark Turnpike

Kearny, NJ 07032-4311

(973) 757-8580 • Cell   

(973) 665-7577 • E-Fax

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Attention All Members,

Timecards must be submitted for the following dates 7/2, 7/3, 7/4, 7/5, 7/6, 7/7 & 7/8. According to the carrier all issues with SCAT have been fixed and we will not be required to fill out timecards for regular assignments after 7/8.

Attention All Members,

Due to problems with SCAT on 7/2/2022 the carrier is requiring all members that worked on 7/2, 7/3, 7/4 & 7/5 submit a timecard for those dates. Also submit a timecard for the Bonus Holiday Pay.

Attention All Members,

Ignore the message that was sent with today’s Bulletin. It is solely the crew caller’s responsibility to notify all members of their awards. 

Good afternoon everyone,  

I’m sure by now most of you are aware the VFW caught on fire yesterday and has burned down completely.  The good news is that no one was harmed.  Unfortunately, we will now have to locate a new place to conduct our monthly union meetings.  We will explore several options, but for now our meeting next week will be held at our union office located on 8 Wilson Ave 3rd floor Newark at 10 a.m.  

Attention – All Members:

It has come to the attention of the SMART Transportation Division that a group referring to themselves as “American Income Life” has been contacting SMART-TD members and insinuating an affiliation with SMART-TD in an attempt to sell insurance.

To be clear, the SMART-TD has in no way vetted or endorsed them, and most certainly disapproves of their deceptive attempts to solicit our members.

The SMART-TD has gone to great lengths and expense to make reasonably priced insurance products available to our members. While competing insurance plans might appear to provide a similar benefit at a competitive rate, they have not been designed with our members’ specific needs and requests in mind.

The following are proudly endorsed by the SMART-TD:

The UTUIA, our member-owned insurance association, offers a comprehensive assortment of products including accident and disability insurance, life insurance, and retirement investments. https://utuia.org/

The SMART Discipline Income Protection Program (DIPP) provides payment for a specific amount and period of time in certain instances to an employee suspended, dismissed, or removed from service by the carrier for alleged violation of rules or operating procedures. https://smart-union.org/resources/dipp/

The Voluntary Short-Term Disability (VSTD) plan is designed to maintain income following accidents or illness. After a 30-day period, benefits are payable for up to 34 weeks. https://www.smart-vstd.com/

The Long-Term Voluntary Disability Plan (VDP) insurance is designed to work complementary to VSTD, extending the benefit period for up to 5 years. https://smart-vltd.com/

In addition, the premiums of products offered by the SMART-TD and UTUIA may be handled easily via payroll deduction.

More information can be found about these plans by logging into the member portal at https://smart-union.org/members/.

And, if you haven’t already, go to http://smart-union.org/mobile to get the SMART Mobile App.

In solidarity,

SMART Transportation Division

Please be aware that the headquarters of the Transportation Division is in the process of relocating and is no longer located on Country Club Blvd in North Olmsted, Ohio.  The United States Postal Service (USPS) does have our forwarding address in their system but we are experiencing delays receiving mail that was addressed to the Country Club Blvd office. 

 FYI. 

Anything you need to mail to our office (USPS or UPS/FedEx) should be addressed as follows:

          SMART TD

          8001 Sweet Valley Dr #15

          Valley View, OH 44125

It is important to note this address is only temporary, and we will provide the permanent address for our office once we have fully relocated.  Until that time, please use this address in Valley View, Ohio.

Thank you.

SMART-Transportation Division

Attention All Members,

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is requiring all NJ TRANSIT Rail employees to receive security training. 

This computer-based training course takes one (1) hour and twenty (20) minutes to complete. Members can stop and start the course at their leisure; however, members must complete the training within 30 days of the course being assigned.

Arrangements have been made to compensate members at two and one–half (2 1/2) hours of their straight-time payrate for completing the course and activating their company furnished email address. Payment will be provided in the third paycheck of the month after successfully completing the course (i.e. courses completed in June will be paid in the third paycheck in July). If payment was not received by the third paycheck of the next month, members can contact Kevin LaMonaca, Deputy Chief of Chief Human Resources at KLamonaca@nitransit.com. 

Members must arrange to take the course at times which will not interfere with proper Hours of Service rest. Members who do not have an active company email, or who have issues accessing their company email can contact the IT Help Desk at helpdesk@njtransit.com or by telephone at 973–491–HELP (4357). 

In the event a member does not have access to their email or password, they can access the course by typing the address Ims.traliant.com into a browser (i.e., Google Chrome) and entering their employee ID# NJT (i.e., 123456_NJT) for the username and for the password, use Password@123. 

Should members have questions concerning the training, username, passwords, and/or troubleshooting, they should contact support@traliant.com. 

Attention All Members,

All Flag/Pilot assignments will work their normal schedule assignments on Friday June 17, 2022. Juneteenth is a working holiday, with a regular week day schedule.

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