Policy Bulletin No. 1995-02

Section 26.3 Rules Applicable to Employees in Negotiating Units - September 29, 1995

TO: State Departments and Agencies
FROM: Peter Elmendorf, Director; Personnel Services Division
SUBJECT: Attendance and Leave Items - 1995-1999 Negotiated Agreements
Administrative Services (ASU), Institutional Services (ISU), Operational Services
(OSU), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (PS&T), Rent Regulations
Services (RRSU) Units

The following material has been prepared to assist you in implementing the new or revised attendance and leave provisions contained in the 1995-99 agreements negotiated with CSEA, PEF, and DC 37. We have included references to the applicable sections of the Attendance and Leave Manual. The contract implementation pages of the Manual will be revised to incorporate these provisions and will be sent to all Manual holders when completed. If you have any questions concerning this material, contact the Employee Relations Section of this Department at (518) 457-2295.

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Subject: Leave Donation Program

Unit and Item:

ASU - Appendix XI
ISU - Appendix X
OSU - Appendix X
DMNA - Appendix IX
PS&T - Article 12.23, Appendix III

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Appendix H

The Leave Donation Program has become a permanent program for employees in these units. The guidelines which governed the pilot program remain unchanged with one exception. There is no minimum service requirement to be eligible to receive donations. (Under the pilot program at least one cumulative year of State service was required to be eligible for donated credits.)

The M/C Attendance Rules which authorize the leave donation program for M/C employees are being amended to eliminate the one year service requirement. The M/C leave donation program has been a permanent program since its inception.

Subject: Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule

Unit and Item: PS&T Article 12.22, Appendix IV

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 26.1, Advisory Memorandum 93-02

For PS&T Unit employees, as well as for Managerial/Confidential employees, the
Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule (VRWS) program will no longer automatically terminate with the expiration of the negotiated agreement. The eligibility criteria and program guidelines remain essentially the same as explained in the Attendance and Leave Manual Advisory Memorandum 93-02. The Governor's Office of Employee Relations will issue guidelines describing in more detail the following changes:

VRWS agreements may be established for any number of payroll periods in duration from 1 to 26. Agreements must expire on the last day of the last pay period of the fiscal year.

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VR credits earned during fiscal year April 1, 1993-March 31, 1994 and April 1, 1994-March 31, 1995 must be liquidated by September 30, 1995.
For all subsequent VRWS agreements, VR credits earned must be liquidated by the September 30th following the end of the fiscal year in which the agreement expires.
For example, an employee whose VRWS agreement is from November 2, 1995 (pay period #15) through April 3, 1996 (pay period #26), must liquidate earned VR credits by September 30, 1996. An employee whose VRWS agreement is from April 4, 1996 (pay period #1) through January 22, 1997 (pay period #21), must liquidate earned VR credits by September 30, 1997.

Subject: Workers' Compensation Mandatory Alternate Duty Program

Unit and Item:

ASU - Article 11.8
OSU - Article 11.8
ISU - Article 11.8
DMNA - Article 11.8
PS&T - Article 13.5
RRSU - Article 13.8

Attendance and Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.8

There was one change in the Mandatory Alternate Duty Programs in these bargaining units: assignments shall be for up to 60 calendar days in length instead of the current 45 calendar days. To qualify for mandatory alternate duty, therefore, employees must be classified as partially disabled at 50% or less by the State Insurance Fund and have a prognosis of full recovery within 60 calendar days. Effective April 2, 1995, this 60-day mandatory alternate duty period applies to all accidents otherwise subject to the Mandatory Alternate Duty Programs in these units (accidents on or after July 1, 1992, for ASU, OSU, ISU, DMNA and RRSU, accidents on or after July 1, 1993, for PS&T). All other provisions of the Mandatory Alternate Duty Programs are unchanged. Please refer to Attendance and Leave Manual Policy Bulletins 93-01 and 93-04 for a complete explanation of the Programs.

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Subject: Workers' Compensation Benefit Protection

Unit and Item: PS&T Article 13.3 (h)

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.8

For injuries occurring on or after April 2, 1995, employees will be treated as though on the payroll for the length of the disability, not to exceed 12 months (increased from 9 months) per injury for the purposes of accruing seniority, continuous service, leave accruals, health insurance, retirement service credit and retirement contributions. At the end of 12 months, therefore, instead of 9 months, employees who continue to be absent should be placed on sick leave without pay. Supplemental payments will continue to be made to otherwise eligible employees for 9 months (39 weeks) for each disability; there has been no change in the maximum length of time employees can receive supplemental payments.

Subject: Christmas and New Year's Day Holidays

Unit and Item:

ASU - Article 10.1(d)
ISU - Article 10.2(e)
OSU - Article 10.2(b)
PS&T - Article 12.1(c)

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.1

The language in this article has been revised to provide that in any year in which Christmas Day, December 25 and New Year's Day, January 1, fall on Sunday (and under provisions of the General Construction Law are observed as legal holidays on the following Monday; i.e., on December 26 and January 2) the day designated for observance of Christmas and New Year's Day for employees in these units will depend upon the employee's regular work schedule on Sunday, December 25 and Sunday, January 1. Employees for whom Sunday is a regularly scheduled pass day will observe Christmas Day and New Year's Day on Monday, December 26 and Monday, January 2 respectively. Employees for whom Sunday is a regularly scheduled workday will observe Christmas Day on Sunday, December 25 and New Year's Day on Sunday, January 1.

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Subject: Saturday Holiday Observance for Part-time Employees

Unit and Item:

PS&T - Article 12.19(c)
RRSU - Article 12.1(d)

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.1

This agreement extends to part-time employees in the PS&T Unit the same benefit currently available to M/C and CSEA-represented employees. A part-time employee otherwise eligible under the Attendance Rules to observe holidays, who:

is regularly scheduled to work at least 1/2 time,
is regularly scheduled to work on the Friday immediately preceding a holiday that
falls on a Saturday,
is not scheduled to work on the Saturday holiday, and
is not directed to work on the Saturday holiday,

shall be credited with holiday leave whenever a holiday falls on Saturday. The amount of leave to be credited is equivalent to the number of hours in the employee's regular Friday schedule, except that the number of hours of holiday leave credited cannot exceed 1/5 the number of hours in the normal workweek of full-time State employees (i.e., 7.5 or 8 hours).

For employees in RRSU this benefit is only available to annual salaried part-time employees who meet the other criteria listed above. Part-time employees in RRSU who are compensated on an hourly basis are not eligible for this benefit even if they have attained Attendance Rules coverage.

Subject: Child Care Leave For Adoptive Parents

Unit and Item:

ASU - Appendix III
ISU - Appendix II
OSU - Appendix II

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 22.1

The language in this Appendix has been revised to refer to birth parents rather than natural parents when distinguishing such individuals from adoptive parents.

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Subject: Vacation Bonus Days

Unit and Item: PS&T - Article 12.4

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.2

The language in this article that prohibited employees hired on or after April 1, 1988, from earning additional vacation credits upon completion of their first and second years of continuous service has been eliminated. Effective April 1, 1995, all employees in this Unit are eligible to be credited with additional vacation days in accordance with Section 21.2 of the Attendance Rules. Any PS&T Unit employee whose first or second anniversary date fell on or after April 1, 1995, should now be credited with either one additional or two additional vacation days, as appropriate.

For example, an employee with continuous service whose anniversary date is April 15, 1993, who was not eligible to be credited with additional vacation credit under the previous agreement should now be credited with two additional days of vacation in accordance with the provisions of the 1995-1999 agreement, which is effective retroactive to April 1, 1995. Records of all affected employees must be corrected, including records of those employees affected by layoff or otherwise not currently in pay status, who were eligible to be credited on their anniversary date. Lump sum payments of separated employees should be adjusted to reflect the additional vacation credited.

Subject: Personal Leave

Unit and Item: PS&T - Article 12.10

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.6

The subject article eliminates the phased increase procedures which were established in April 1988. Effective April 1, 1995, all eligible PS&T employees are now granted 5 days of personal leave each year on their personal leave anniversary date in accordance with Section 21.6 of the Attendance Rules. Any PS&T Unit employee whose personal leave anniversary date fell on or after April 1, 1995, and who was credited with fewer than 5 days of personal leave under the provisions of the previous agreement, should be credited with additional amounts of personal leave to total 5 days. For example, an employee whose personal leave anniversary date was May 10, 1990, and who was credited under the previous provisions with 3.5 days of personal leave on May 10, 1995, should now be credited with an additional 1.5 days of personal leave to bring the...

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...total number of days granted to five. Records of all affected employees must be corrected, including those employees affected by layoff or otherwise not currently in pay status.

Eligible PS&T employees subject to the Institution Teacher Rules of the Department of Correctional Services, Division for Youth or Office of Mental Health should be credited with 3 days of personal leave at the beginning of the school calendar year in September 1995.

Subject: Use of Leave Credits During Disciplinary Suspension

Unit and Item: PS&T-Article 33.4(9)

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 22.1

The language in this article has been amended to allow PS&T Unit employees suspended without pay to use annual, personal or holiday leave credits or overtime compensatory time during the period of suspension at the employee's option. This benefit is identical to that afforded CSEA Unit employees which is discussed on pages C-1 and C-2 of Section 22.1 of the Manual.

Subject: Doctor's Certificates

Unit and Item: RRSU - Article 12.17

Attendance & Leave Manual Reference: Section 21.3

A new article has been added which clarifies that the normal procedure for obtaining approval for the use of sick leave credits is for the employee to make a request directly to the immediate supervisor. (Article 14.2 which describes procedures for designating individuals other than the employee's supervisor as the recipient of confidential medical documentation is continued unchanged.) Article 12.17 confirms the right of management to request a doctor's certificate that provides proof of illness or fitness for duty and provides that a doctor's certificate will not routinely be required for absences of four days or less. (See Section 21.3 page C-14 for a discussion of medical certification.)

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