What Records to Keep for an Overtime Bypass Claim

An overtime bypass claim succeeds or fails on paper. Management will dispute it; the local wins when it can put the sign-up line, the call record, and the contract rule side by side.

Keep the originals, or a clean scan, of everything for that day: the sign-up sheet showing the member's entry and block, the call list with times and results, the tracking or justification forms for the shift, the roster of assignment, and the credited-hours list in effect that day.

Check what the records actually say before relying on them. Names and blocks are easy to misread in handwriting; confirm each call time and result entry by entry; compare credited hours against the printed totals. Mark anything unclear as unclear rather than guessing.

Write the claim from the record: which line, which block, who was called instead and when, and the provision of your overtime article it rests on. Keep a copy of every page you relied on with the claim.

Make the check routine, not reactive. Locals that check every day catch errors members never notice. Union Boss keeps each scan in the local's encrypted workspace, shows every sign-up line beside its strip of the original, and drafts a claim only after an officer confirms the finding.