Outcome of Policy Grievance #19060017 – OC and RPT to FT UHR Pay

Universal Hourly Rate was negotiated between the parties in 2014 with implementation on April 7, 2017. In September 2018 the parties discovered a short coming in the language where On-call and Regular Part-time moving to Full-time were not receiving credit for hours earned towards their next UHR increase, this was inconsistent with the UHR implementation agreement. 

In 2018, the parties agreed to clarification of the intent of the UHR implementation and a process to determine credit towards the next wage increment in the UHR wage grid, when moving to Full-time status. That process is: if when transitioning to Full-time status, the employee had achieved 975 or more hours toward the next increment, then they would start their Full-time position at the next wage increment. They would then move each further increment on their Full-time anniversary date. If they had achieved 974 or less hours, they would start their Full-time position at their current wage increment and also move each further increment on their Full-time anniversary date.             

For example, an employee who is On-call status at the 2-year wage increment accepts a Full-time position. When that employee transitions to Full-time status, they had accumulated 1,100 hours toward their required 1,950 hours. They therefore commence their Full-time position at the 3-year wage increment for their classification.           

The Union has been advised that the Employer has not been consistently applying the above process to employees moving from On-call or Regular Part-time status to Full-time.         

As well, the Union was advised that the Employer has changed their practice of which date is considered the employees “Full-time anniversary” date. The Employer is assigning one date as the employees “seniority date” and another as their “start date”.             

Historically, an employee’s “seniority date” has also been their “Full-time anniversary” date and therefore the date that calculation of UHR wage grid placement, future wage increases, and vacation allotment/accrual are based on. Although employees start date may differ slightly than the hire groups common seniority date, the seniority date has always been used for calculations going forward. The Employer controls the start date of all employees and has an established practice of application as outlined above. 

The Union advanced a policy grievance on this matter and met with Arbitrator Ken Saunders on September 9/10, 2020. Please find the full settlement here: https://tinyurl.com/yxfvdoqr

In short, the Employer has agreed to place affected employees who have moved from On-call and /or Regular Part-time status to Full-time status and have not received credit for 975 or more accumulated hours on the correct UHR Pay Scale as per A1.03(g) of the Collective Agreement, and pay any monies owed to such employees by December 31, 2020.

The parties also secured language to aid in clarification surrounding seniority dates and start dates. The parties also committed to deal with this matter in the next round of bargaining.

To determine if you may have been affected consider the following questions:

1)     At any time since April 1, 2017, have you moved from a Part-time or On-call position to a Full-time position in the same classification?

2)     Were you at the UHR rate 2yr, 1yr or base prior to going Full-time?

3)     Did you achieve 975hrs towards your next UHR wage increment increase prior to going Full-time?

If you have answered yes to the 3 questions above, please contact me to discuss your specific details and determine if you were impacted.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. 

Sincerely,  

Please click HERE to view a PDF version of this message.

JJ/sd/MoveUp