Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Vacation Caps and Overtime

Some of the changes negotiated in the contract will take place a little later than planned. As with the raise and retro, these dates are not guaranteed, but HR Operations has given us their intended schedule:

Vacation Cap Lowered and Excess Paid Out
  • 320 hours to 280 hours: March 13, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled "on or after 11/1/14")
  • 280 hours to 240 hours: July 3, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled 4/1/15)
Overtime Rules Change for Mon-Fri, day-shift-only departments
  • February 13, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled for 1/1/2015). No change for departments with weekend shifts, evening shifts or night shifts.

Below are the contract sections about Vacation Cap Payout and about Overtime. 
Click here for the complete contract language.
Contract Language on Vacation Cap Payout (p.26)
"Vacation accrual caps will be reduced from 320 hours to 280 hours on or after 11/1/14, and then to 240 hours on 4/1/15. Employees with vacation accruals above the cap will be paid the hours in excess of the cap at their current rate of pay. 
Employees who request vacation time with proper notice, are denied the time, and then exceed their cap, will be paid the value of the time that they would have accrued had the request been granted."
Contract Language on Overtime Rules Change (p. 24)
"Monday-Friday, day-shift-only departments:
Employees in these departments shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of forty (40) hours per week. Effective 1/1/2015, if sick leave, vacation time, holiday compensatory time or personal time is used in the same work week, it shall not be considered as time worked for the purposes of calculating overtime compensation. Holidays shall be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. 
It is the intention of the parties that employees in these departments should not generally be forced to work overtime. If a particular department requires the use of forced overtime, the parties will meet to discuss the matter."