How to Fill Out and Submit PS Form 1188: 20/10 Window and Copies

PS Form 1188 is the document USPS employees use to stop union or association dues from being withheld from their pay. To cancel successfully, your installation head must date-stamp the form between 20 and 10 days before the anniversary of your original SF 1187 authorization, and you must send Copy 3 to the union’s national office by certified mail. Miss that window by a day on either side and dues continue for another full year.

The 20/10 Day Filing Window

Federal law requires a dues-withholding authorization to stay in effect for at least one year before you can revoke it. After that, cancellation depends on a specific window under the Employee and Labor Relations Manual, Section 925.122: PS Form 1188 can be submitted no earlier than 20 days and no later than 10 days before your anniversary date.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization

Your anniversary date is the date your original SF 1187 was delivered to your employer. That date is fixed for the rest of your postal career, regardless of transfers, promotions, or breaks in service.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization If you don’t know it, check your original SF 1187 or ask your installation’s labor relations office.

The ELM gives a concrete example. If your anniversary date is December 1, the employing office must receive and date-stamp your form between November 11 and November 21. A form arriving November 10 or November 22 does not qualify.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization What controls is the date-stamp on receipt, not the date you signed or mailed the form. Plan your delivery timeline around that.

Only the union can waive the 20/10 day rule. A form submitted outside the window sits unprocessed until the next year’s window opens, and dues keep coming out the entire time.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization

Filling Out the Form

The form is short. You complete four fields; the agency completes the rest.

Two fields, Reason for Cancellation and Effective Date of Cancellation, are completed by the agency. Leave them blank.

Where to Get It

PS Form 1188 is posted on the Postal Service’s internal PolicyNet through blue.usps.gov under Published Forms and Directives.4United States Postal Service. PS Form 1188 Revision – Address Change You can also request a printed copy from HRSSC at 877-477-3273.5United States Postal Service. Forms The May 2019 edition is the current version and replaces earlier printings. OPM publishes a similar Standard Form 1188 for other federal agencies; USPS employees should use the PS version.

Where the Three Copies Go

The form has three copies, and they don’t all go to the same place. This is where cancellations most often fall apart.

Certified mail is not optional. The form requires you to certify that Copy 3 was sent to the national office by certified mail. If HRSSC receives all three copies instead of the correct two, the whole submission is returned with the reason noted, and you may have already lost your window.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization

When Cancellation Takes Effect

Once properly received, cancellation is effective on the first full pay period beginning on or after the date the form reached the payroll office, provided the one-year minimum authorization period has passed.3Office of Personnel Management. Standard Form 1188 – Cancellation of Payroll Deductions for Labor Organizations Dues The one-year floor comes from 5 U.S.C. 7115, which bars revoking a dues allotment during the first year after authorization.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7115 – Allotments to Representatives

Check the deductions column on your earnings statement after the expected effective pay period. If dues are still being withdrawn after two full pay periods, contact HRSSC and ask whether the form was processed. Keep your certified mail receipt and a photocopy of the signed form. Those are your proof that you filed within the window if the payroll record is ever disputed.

Situations That Change the Standard Process

Non-Career Employees

For non-career employees such as City Carrier Assistants and Postal Support Employees, the original SF 1187 stays in effect for 180 days after an appointment ends, even though no dues come out during that gap. If you’re rehired within those 180 days and want to cancel, you get a separate 10-day window from your rehire date to submit PS Form 1188. You can also use the standard 20/10 day window before your anniversary, which remains the original SF 1187 delivery date no matter how many times you’ve been reappointed.1United States Postal Service. Employee and Labor Relations Manual – 925 Cancellation of Dues Withholding Authorization

Transfers Between Crafts

Moving from one craft to another, for example from a clerk position (APWU) to a carrier position (NALC), works differently. The major postal unions have reciprocal agreements that allow you to join your new craft’s union without waiting for a 20/10 day window; you show proof of joining the new union, and the old union’s dues stop with no PS Form 1188 required. If you transfer crafts but don’t want to join the new union, you’re back to the standard 20/10 day window tied to your original anniversary date.7National Postal Mail Handlers Union. Avoiding Unintended Multiple Dues Withholding

Automatic Termination

Two situations end dues withholding without any form. Under 5 U.S.C. 7115, the allotment terminates when the collective bargaining agreement between the agency and the union stops applying to you, or when the union suspends or expels you from membership.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7115 – Allotments to Representatives No PS Form 1188 needed in either case.

Mistakes That Cause Rejection

The most common failure is submitting outside the 20/10 day window. One day early or one day late and the form is rejected; you wait another year. Count backward from your anniversary date carefully, and remember that only the date-stamp on receipt matters.

The second most common error is sending all three copies to one place. Parts A and B belong with your installation head. Copy 3 goes to the union’s national office by certified mail. Mix that up and HRSSC returns the whole submission. An imprecise union name or missing local number can also trigger a rejection, because payroll cannot match a vague organization name to the correct deduction code.

The third is guessing at the anniversary date. If you can’t find your original SF 1187, request the date on file from your labor relations office or HRSSC before you count. Every other step depends on that date being right.