The National Rural Letter Carriers` Association (NRLCA) represents over 131,000 rural letter carriers across the United States. The NRLCA negotiates contracts with the United States Postal Service (USPS) on behalf of rural letter carriers to ensure fair compensation and working conditions. In recent years, there has been a significant focus on back pay for rural letter carriers.

Back pay refers to the wages, benefits, or other compensation owed to an employee due to an error in payment or delays in payment. For rural letter carriers, back pay can occur for various reasons, including contract negotiations, pay scale adjustments, and changes in work requirements. NRLCA contract back pay refers specifically to the compensation owed to rural letter carriers as a result of the negotiations between the NRLCA and the USPS.

The most recent negotiations between the NRLCA and the USPS for a new collective bargaining agreement took place in 2018 and resulted in a new contract that was ratified in August of that year. One of the significant changes in the new contract was the back pay provisions for rural letter carriers.

Under the new contract, rural letter carriers received back pay for several reasons, including the pay scale adjustments from the previous contract, the increase in the basic annual salary, and the new rural carrier associates (RCA) wage scales. Rural letter carriers received back pay for these adjustments, as well as retroactive pay from November 2017 to August 2018. The back pay compensation was included in the first paycheck following the ratification of the new contract.

The NRLCA also negotiated a back pay provision for rural letter carriers who were converted to full-time regular status between May 21, 2016, and September 29, 2018. These carriers were owed a portion of back pay based on their prior RCA hourly wage rate and the time they spent as an RCA before their conversion.

In addition to the back pay provisions in the new contract, the NRLCA also secured an increase in the basic annual salary for rural letter carriers and a $1,000 signing bonus for all eligible rural letter carriers.

In conclusion, NRLCA contract back pay refers to the compensation owed to rural letter carriers as a result of contract negotiations between the NRLCA and the USPS. The most recent contract negotiations resulted in significant back pay provisions for rural letter carriers, including retroactive pay and back pay for converted full-time regulars. The NRLCA continues to advocate for fair compensation and working conditions for rural letter carriers.