Is The Cwa Sick Policy Being Misconstrued----

[Severed-N-Happy]

Between early JAN(eff. date new agreement) and 6/30 of 2005 if someone was sick for 3 days they were paid only 1/2 their normal complement of hours. After 3 days it was full pay. Eff 7/1/05 the policy revised to 1st 5 days are paid at 1/2 rate. So my question is: What was the purpose of splitting the 1st half of the year up apart from the second 1/2? Was it to save more money for 6 months? Was it to deter people from taking sick leave during transformation time? Because as a result any one who is sick with 2 occurrences (one before 6/30 and one after 6/30) gets penalized twice, even if they met the 3 day restriction from the 1st 1/2 of the year. IMO, or the way one could interpret it, someone who already met the 3 day restriction before 6/30 should not be penalized again for another 5 days for another occurrence after 6/30, or at the very least only have to incur the penalty for 2 more days such that their total 1/2 pay penalty equals 5 days for the rolling year which began approx 1/1/05.
Anyone else agree or disagree? Feedback welcomed.

 

[tadjr]

According to the summary of changes from the CWA
The first 3 sick days used from the effective date of this Agreement through June 30, 2005 will be paid at 50% and decremented at a 50% rate. Thereafter, the first 5 sick days used (beginning July 1st of each year) are paid at 50% of the employee's scheduled hours and decremented at a 50% rate.


Sounds like they moved the start date of each year to July 1st instead of calendar year. It started over beginning July 1st for the new count of 50% days.

 

[Severed-N-Happy]

Tadjr, you just repeated what I already knew and wrote, but did not address my question or concern.
Is it correct that in the calendar year 2005 one can be penalized twice by the 3 day/5 day rule, and if so, WHY on earth was it negotiated this way??
I would think anyone who was sick 3 days or more prior to 7/1 would already have their 3 day penalty assessed for the year and not be subject POTENTIALLY to another 5 day penalty within the next 12 months. Just doesn't seem that was the intent of ther agreement ..or maybe it was.

 

[tadjr]

Because thats the way CWA accepted the wording. I dont know what their intent was or what the CWA got in return for accepting the wording this way. Maybe someone who was there can explain. It doesnt appear that its being interpreted wrong since what I wrote is directly from the CWA mailing so they KNEW this was the way it was to happen. Yes, you are getting 8 days of penalty time if you have been sick 8 days this year (3 before Jun 30 and 5 after Jul 1st.) I guess since from NOW ON the calendar year for sick time penalty runs July 1st to July 1st, they figured an extra 3 days wasnt a problem to them for the first six months since that is about the average of what could be expected IF the agreement had already been July to July.
I didnt vote yes anyway, so I cant say that I agree with what was negotiated. There were too many things in it that just didnt work for me, but since the majority approved, am having to find a way to live with it.

 

[drifterreno]

No one in their right mind at HP wants the U sick program. First of all we are very happy very responsible adults and are treated as such at HP. If we are sick we stay at home. But we really must be sick. We get 10 sick days a year and they don't carry over. That's okay--I don't want to miss 10 days, but I think you'll find if you don't abuse your sick days here you won't be "punished". They really work very hard with you. We also have free short term disability and free long term disability--you can pay up on the long term, but I know I paid thousands at U and never used it. Got to HP and got hurt pretty bad and had 3 months of short term disability and had no problem with the insurance or work.

 

[tadjr]

We get 10 sick days a year and they don't carry over. That's okay--I don't want to miss 10 days, but I think you'll find if you don't abuse your sick days here you won't be "punished".

[post="283819"][/post]​

After the 10 days the ST Disability kicks in or is there a gap between the 11th day and kicking in? I currently have about 160 sick days. Not that I plan on using that many any time soon, but in case there are major problems (operation, etc) was just curious what the gap between coverage is.

 

[barbeetantrums]

No one in their right mind at HP wants the U sick program. First of all we are very happy very responsible adults and are treated as such at HP. If we are sick we stay at home. But we really must be sick. We get 10 sick days a year and they don't carry over. That's okay--I don't want to miss 10 days, but I think you'll find if you don't abuse your sick days here you won't be "punished". They really work very hard with you. We also have free short term disability and free long term disability--you can pay up on the long term, but I know I paid thousands at U and never used it. Got to HP and got hurt pretty bad and had 3 months of short term disability and had no problem with the insurance or work.

[post="283819"][/post]​

You are only speaking for your department. For fleet services, sick days do carry over if less than 1.5% of sick days are used in the preceding year as per the TWU contract. Also, terminations occur frequently if "trends" are observed, i.e. calling in sick regularly in conjunction with days off. You can grieve the termination when you are gone.

 

[drifterreno]

That's true--only my department. But as in any department if you are abusing the privilidge you must go.