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2016 CBA Tentati ve Agreement Page 131 of 217 Section 4. The Parties at the loca l level shall meet within fourteen (14) calendar days of submission of the hardship to accomplish the facility level review. They will ensure that the request falls in one of the three categories eligible for hardship consideration and that the appropriate documentation is provided. Requests that clearly fall outside the identified hardship categories or those requests which do not include supporting documentation will be returned to the employee with an explanation of the denial and information that the em ployee can file an ERR through the normal process. For all other requests, they will make recommendations and forward an entire package to the Parties at the Service Area/AFSIAG level of the facility where the hardship request originated. This should norma lly be accomplished within seven (7) calendar days of making the determination. Section 5. The Parties at the Service Area/AFSIAG level shall review the employee's package and the recommendations made at the facility and make their own determination as to whether the hardship condition is bona fide. This review should normally occur within fourteen (14) calendar days of receiving the package. If they determine the hardship condition is bona fide they shall, within seven (7) calendar days of making the dete rmination, forward the entire package to the Parties at the Service Area/AFSIAG level of the target facilities if other than their own, along with a written statement recommending approval of the transfer due to a bona fide hardship condition. Should the P arties in this Section fail to reach agreement on the determination as to whether the hardship condition is bona fide, the hardship request is denied and the employee may pursue transfer under the ERR process. If the transfer is recommended by the originat ing Service Area/AFSIAG, the employee's hardship package will be forwarded to the target Service Area/AFSIAG. Section 6. The Parties at the Service Area/AFSIAG level of the target facilities shall review the employee's package and the determinations made at the facility and the originating Service Area. This review should normally occur within fourteen (14) calendar days after receiving the package. The Agency will make every reasonable effort to accommodate the employee's transfer if the employee is other wise qualified for the position. The originating facility will not unreasonably delay the employee's release. If the transfer is denied, the target Service Area shall forward a written justification to the originating Service Area along with a list of al l alternative facilities in the geographical area which could possibly fit the needs of the affected employee. The requesting employee will then be informed by his/her Principal Facility Representative and the Air Traffic Manager jointly, as soon as possi ble after receiving the final determination. Transfers under this Article shall not be constrained by any release policies; however, release under this Article shall not negatively impact employees who have already received release dates. Transfers under t his Article shall not be eligible to receive any permanent change of station benefits. If the Agency determines that the request cannot be accommodated due to staffing, the request will remain active for fifteen (15) months and reviewed every six (6) month s by the Parties at the Service Area/AFSIAG level. After each six (6) month review, a notice will be sent to the employee regarding the disposition of the request. Section 7. If the employee does not accept one of the alternatives, the response shall be d ocumented and placed in the employee's hardship request file. The employee's original request will be held for fifteen (15) months and reviewed by the ATO Service Area Director/AFSIAG Manager and NATCA Regional Vice President every six (6) months. If multi ple requests in the same category are competing for a single vacancy, they will be accommodated on a first come, first serve basis. Target Service Areas/AFSIAG are required to "date/time stamp" all hardship applications in order to properly track this prov ision.

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