AFSCME 2005-2008 Contract

ARTICLE 10 - WORKWEEK AND WORK SCHEDULE

Section 1. Hours, Workday and Workweek

A. Except as otherwise specified in this Agreement, the regular hours of work for all full-time employees of Unit I (Clerical and Technical) shall be thirty-seven and one-half (37 ½) hours per week, excluding meal periods.

Except as otherwise specified in this Agreement, the regular hours of work for all full-time employees of Unit II (Maintenance and Security) shall be forty (40) hours per week, excluding meal periods.

For Unit II employees who are assigned to a second or third shift and who are eligible to receive a shift differential, the regular hours of work shall be forty (40) hours per week including a thirty (30) minute meal period. All such employees shall take their meal period at the location/site to which they are assigned and shall be on call at all times during the meal period.

For Unit II employees who are uniformed members of the Campus Police/Safety/Security Department or whose duties require a watch in a power plant or similar facility, the regular hours of work shall be forty (40) hours per week including a thirty (30) minute meal period. All such employees shall take their meal period at the location/site to which they are assigned and shall be on call at all times during the meal period.

B. When the CEO desires to change the regular work schedule of an employee, the affected employee shall receive at least ten (10) working days written notice of such contemplated change, except in cases of emergency involving the protection of the property of the College or involving the health and safety of those persons whose care and/or custody have been entrusted to the College.

1. Where practicable, assignments in shift, days off, or work location with no change in job title and no change in grade, shall be filled by qualified volunteers in order of seniority. If there are no volunteers, assignments shall be made in inverse order of seniority with the affected employee having priority to return to the original shift, days off, or work location.

2. The work schedule, both starting times and quitting times, of employees shall be posted at least ten (10) working days in advance on a bulletin board at each work location and also made available to employees and Union Stewards.

C. To the extent practicable, the normal work week shall consist of five (5) consecutive days, Monday through Friday, with the regular hours of work each day to be consecutive except for meal periods. Similarly, to the extent practicable, employees in continuous operations shall receive two (2) consecutive days off in each seven (7) day period. This sub-section shall not apply to employees in authorized flexible hours programs. The starting and quitting time for each employee shall be uniform and consistent unless changed in accordance with the provisions of this Article. Regularly scheduled work shifts shall have at least fifteen (15) hours between quitting and starting time.

D. Each employee shall be required to record his attendance in accordance with procedures which may be established in writing from time to time by the CEO. Thirty (30) days prior to any change in the existing method of recording attendance the CEO will notify the Union of such change and will meet and confer with the Union to discuss such change.

E. Employees wishing to swap their days off in a given week may do so by mutual agreement of the employees involved with the consent of their supervisor and the approval of the Chief Human Resources Officer or designee.

Section 2. Overtime

A. An employee shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half his/her regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of thirty-seven and a half (37 ½) hours per week for Unit I employees and forty (40) hours per week for Unit II employees.

B. Compensatory time off, computed at time and one-half in lieu of overtime compensation may be authorized by the CEO upon the request of the employee.

C. The CEO shall not, for the purpose for avoiding overtime, curtail or modify the scheduled hours of an employee during the remainder of the work week in which the employee has previously worked hours beyond his/her normally scheduled work day.

D. There shall be no duplication or pyramiding of the premium pay for overtime work provided for in this Agreement.

E. With the exception of paid sick leave, all time for which an employee is on full-pay status (personal leave, vacation leave, etc.) or other than full-pay status (absences related to intermittent leave pursuant to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for care of family members), shall be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. Notwithstanding the above, an employee who uses sick leave during the same work week (Sunday through Saturday) in which he/she works overtime shall have the opportunity to retroactively substitute up to three (3) shifts of sick leave per fiscal year with either accrued compensatory time, holiday, personal or vacation leave though not on the calendar day before or after working overtime or a detail. The retroactive substitution of any leave for sick leave shall occur only upon the completion and submittal of a Request for Substitution of Sick Leave Form (Appendix A) by the employee. Any such form shall be completed and submitted not later than ten (10) days after the date for which such substitution is requested. Further, not more than two (2) days of sick leave may be counted towards such overtime calculation if the employee submits satisfactory medical evidence of the use of such sick leave. The use of any such sick leave shall occur only upon the completion and submittal of a Request for Substitution of Sick Leave Form 19 (Appendix A) to which the satisfactory medical evidence shall be attached. Any such form shall be completed and submitted with satisfactory medical evidence attached not later than ten (10) days after the date upon which such sick leave was used.

F. Overtime shall be distributed as equitably and impartially as practicable among employees in each work location who ordinarily perform such work in the normal course of their workweek. Department heads and Union representatives at each location shall work out procedures for implementing this policy of distributing overtime work. Such policies shall be approved by the CEO.

G. An employee may not refuse to perform compulsory overtime except for reasons acceptable to the CEO when it is determined by the CEO that the work must be performed on an overtime period or involves the protection of persons or property of the College. Prior to invoking compulsory overtime, if safety and security permits, the CEO will solicit volunteers using the procedures developed by the College in Paragraph F of this Section 2. If volunteers are not available, the CEO will order in an employee to perform such work in the order of inverse seniority. Failure on the part of an employee to work an overtime assignment as described above without such reason shall be wrongful and may result in the imposition of disciplinary measures.

H. Upon the request of the employee, the concurrence of the Departmental Supervisor, and the prior approval of the Chief Human Resources Officer, an employee may work overtime. All such requests for permission to work voluntary overtime shall be in writing and shall contain both the maximum number of hours to be worked and the starting and ending dates of the time period during which such hours shall be worked. Voluntary overtime may be granted only for the continuation by the employee of tasks normally assigned to said employee and which fall within the employee’s classification specification.

The implementation of this sub-section H shall not be subject to the provisions of Article 10, Section 5 of the Agreement. Further, grievances involving the interpretation or application of the provisions of this sub-section H may be processed through Step IV of the grievance procedure set forth in Article 29 of this Agreement but shall not be processed to Step V. I. The CEO shall make every effort to make payment for overtime work no later than the first payroll period following the payroll period of the overtime work, but in no event later than the second payroll period thereafter.

J. Overtime worked by members of the bargaining unit shall be posted or made available on a monthly basis.

K. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to employees on full travel status.

Section 3. Meal Period

A meal period shall be scheduled as close to the middle of the shift as possible considering the needs of the College and the needs of the employee.

Section 4. Rest Periods

A rest period of a maximum of fifteen (15) minutes shall be given to employees in each one-half (1/2) tour of duty.

Section 5. Call/Report-Back

An employee who has left his/her place of employment after having completed work on his/her regular tour of duty and reports back to work prior to the commencement of his/her next scheduled tour of duty shall receive a minimum of four (4) hours pay at his/her regular hourly overtime rate. This section shall not apply to any employee who is called in to start his/her shift early and who continues to work that shift.

Section 6. Stand By

A. The stand-by period shall be fifteen (15) hours in duration for any night stand-by duty and shall be nine (9) hours in duration for any daytime stand-by.

B. Stand-by duty shall mean that a department head has designated an employee to be immediately available for duty upon receipt of a message to report to work. If any employee assigned to stand-by duty is not available to report to duty when called, no stand-by pay shall be paid to the employee for the period and the employee may be subject to disciplinary action.

C. Stand-by duty shall normally be voluntary. If there are no volunteers, assignments shall be made in inverse order of seniority, except, however, that the individual chosen for the stand-by duty shall be qualified to perform the tasks required.

D. Any employee who has been designated by a department head to carry a beeper or other type of electronic communications equipment, after his/her normal tour of duty, shall be considered to be on stand-by, and shall be paid accordingly.

E. An employee who is designated by the department head to be available on a stand-by basis to report to duty when necessary shall be reimbursed at a rate not to exceed twenty-five ($25.00) dollars for such stand-by period.

F. If required to report for duty from stand-by status, the employee shall be paid at the appropriate overtime pay rate.

Section 7. Shift Differential

A. Employees of the Commonwealth rendering service on a second or third shift as hereinafter defined shall receive a shift differential of seventy-five cents ($0.75) per hour for each hour worked. Effective July 1, 2006, the shift differential received shall be one dollar and twenty-five cents ($1.25) per hour for each hour worked.

B. For the purpose of this section only, a second shift shall be one that commences at 1:00 p.m. or after and ends no later than 2:00 a.m., and a third shift shall be one that commences at 9:00 p.m. or after and ends no later than 9:00 a.m.

C. The above hourly shift differential shall be paid in addition to regular salary for eligible employees when their entire workday is on a second or third shift. In addition, eligible employees who are required to work a second or third shift, or any portion thereof, on an overtime basis, will receive an hourly differential pursuant to paragraph A of this section.

D. For employees who are required to work a second or third shift as governed by Paragraph C of this Section, overtime shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half of the regular salary rate for the number of hours in excess of thirty-seven and a-half (37 ½) hours per week for Unit I employees and forty (40) hours per week for Unit II employees worked on such second or third shift. The shift differential shall be added before the computation of the overtime rate.

Section 8. Weekend Differential

A. Employees of the Commonwealth rendering service on a weekend shift as hereinafter defined shall receive a weekend differential of 25 cents ($0.25) per hour for each hour worked. Effective July 1, 2006, the shift differential received shall be seventy-five cents ($0.75) per hour for each hour worked.

B. For the purpose of this section, a weekend shift shall be defined as a shift that commences on or after 9:00 p.m. on Friday and concludes on or before 2:00 a.m. on Monday.

C. The above hourly weekend differential shall be paid in addition to regular salary for eligible employees when their entire workday is on a weekend shift. In addition, eligible employees who are required to work a weekend shift, or any portion thereof, on an overtime basis, will receive an hourly differential pursuant to paragraph A of this section.

D. For employees who are required to work a weekend shift pursuant to paragraph C of this section, overtime shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half of the regular salary rate for the number of hours in excess of thirty-seven and a-half (37 ½) hours per week for Unit I employees; and, in excess of forty (40) hours per week for Unit II employees. The weekend differential shall be added before the computation of the overtime rate.

Section 9. Paid Detail

A. For the purpose of this section, a detail shall mean a work assignment outside of normal working hours that is paid for by an outside agency or organization which is not an organization or department of the college.

B. Employees who work paid details shall be compensated at the rate of time and a half (1 ½) of their regular rate. Such work performed on a holiday as defined in Article 14 shall be compensated at a rate of not less than time and one-half (1 ½). There shall be a minimum of four (4) hours pay for each such paid detail.

C. The College shall require a notice to the College of cancellation of a detail from the requester of the detail at least four (4) hours prior to the time the detail is scheduled to begin. If the requester of the detail fails to notify the College within the above specified limit, any employee assigned to that detail shall be entitled to four (4) hours pay at the overtime rate.

Section 10. Clean-Up

Employees working in jobs which are especially dirty or which require clean-up for reasons of safety or health shall be granted up to a maximum of ten (10) minutes, depending on the need to be used as personal clean-up time prior to meal period and at the end of a work shift.

Section 11. Miscellaneous Provisions

A. An employee shall normally be assigned duties by his/her regular supervisor.

B. Each employee shall have access to all materials, equipment, foods, work areas and telephones necessary to perform duties and as required to take care of emergency situations.

C. The College shall enter into full discussion with the Union prior to engaging in on the job time-study projects.

D. The College shall endeavor to supply each employee with adequate locker facilities convenient to his/her work area.

E No managerial employee, as defined by the Massachusetts Public Employee Collective Bargaining Law (Chapter 150E), who is excluded from the terms of this Agreement, shall perform the work of any employee covered by this Agreement, except in the case of an emergency, excessive absence of employees from work, lack of an adequate number of employees or for the purpose of providing instruction or training of employees.

Section 12. Flexible Hours Program

Campus Level Labor/Management Committees established in Section 2 of Article 32, shall consider the feasibility of instituting a flexible hours program on their campus.

Section 13. Compensatory Time

No employee may have more than two hundred (200) hours of accrued compensatory time to his/her credit.

Section 14. Inclement Weather and Other Closings

A. General Application The provisions of this Section 13 are of application at all times during the term of this Agreement (i.e. Academic Semesters, Academic Vacations, and Inter-Sessions) and include openings, closings and cancellations where non-essential employees are excused with pay.

B. Adverse Weather Conditions

In the event that classes or other activities are cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, designated essential personnel shall be required to report for work during the duration of the cancellation. (It is the intention of the parties that not all personnel will be declared essential.)

C. Other Closings In the event that a circumstance arises that requires a work area (i.e. a building) to be closed for health, safety or other reasons, including conditions of extreme cold, heat or humidity, non-essential employees at the affected work location will be dismissed with pay for the balance of the shift.

D. Compensation

Employees who are designated essential and who either report to work in accordance with Paragraph B above or remain at work in accordance with Paragraph C above shall receive compensatory time (based upon actual number of hours worked) in addition to the daily pay to which they would otherwise be entitled. An employee working at a rate greater than straight time shall not be eligible for compensatory time.

E. An employee who is not scheduled to work a shift or who is not at work due to the authorized use of any leave (including but not limited to bereavement, personal, sick or vacation) shall receive no additional compensation as a result of any adverse weather or other closing which occurs during such shift or period of leave.

F. Between October 1st and October 15th of each year, an employee shall receive written notification if he/she is designated as an essential employee. The Union shall be provided with the name of each employee who is designated as essential.

G. All decisions regarding this Section 13 shall fall within the sole discretion of the CEO.

H. Within ninety (90) days of the execution of this Agreement, there shall be a meeting of the campus-level Labor/Management Committee, the sole topic of which shall be the implementation of this Section 14.