Office of Collective Bargaining > Labor Agreements > OCSEA > OCSEA Contract Table of Contents >
ARTICLE 16 – SENIORITY
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This
is a labor agreement with annotations by the Office of Collective
Bargaining.
PLEASE NOTE:Language that is in bold typeface and underlined was added with this Agreement. Language that is Language in Italics are annotations added by the Office of Collective Bargaining. |
The language in this Article continues unchanged from the previous Contract.
For purposes of this Agreement, the various forms of seniority shall be defined as follows:
A. “State seniority” - the total OCSEA bargaining unit seniority credits accrued since the employee's last date of hire with the state, except as modified by Section 16.02.
B. “Institutional seniority- the total seniority credits accrued since the employee's last date of hire or transfer into the specific institution where the employee is currently employed; except that in the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Department of Youth Services transfer of institutional seniority credits into newly activated institutions shall be as follows:
1. Bargaining unit employees who are transferred through the 30th day after the first youth or inmate (other than cadre) arrives shall carry with them their institution seniority credits;
2. Bargaining unit employees who are transferred after the 30th day from the time the first youth or inmate (other than cadre) arrives shall not be permitted to transfer institution seniority credits.
C. “Seniority credit- the total number of pay periods during which an employee held or had a right to return to a bargaining unit position, including periods of absence resulting from suspension, leaves of absence whether paid or unpaid, disability leave, leave for periods of workers' compensation (up to three years), and layoff (for as long as the employee remains on the recall list). Part-time employees experiencing similar periods of absence shall be credited with seniority at a rate determined by the average hours in active pay status during their last six (6) full pay periods.
Except as provided under section 16.02, continuous service will be interrupted only by resignation, discharge for just cause, disability separation, failure to return from a leave of absence or failure to respond to a recall from layoff. An employee who resigns to take a position with another State agency, board or commission in a higher, same, or lower pay range and is hired within sixty (60) days has not experienced a break in seniority and service credits during the sixty (60) days.
Each full-time employee shall be credited with one seniority credit for each pay period of continuous service. Part-time and fixed-term seasonal employees will be credited with .0125 seniority credit for each non-premium hour of compensation in each pay period not to exceed one (1) seniority credit in a pay period. Service credit shall be computed in years and days as is the past practice and shall be credited for all periods for which "seniority credits" are granted.
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Arbitration Awards: |
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OCB #747 OCSEA #426 |
Arbitrator Anna Smith: Grievant Rae Jacobozzi; OBES, 2/11/92. This decision determined that persons hired, but not recalled or reemployed, while on a recall or reemployment list, do not have a break in service. This led to the language “the total number of pay periods during which an employee held or had a right to return to a bargaining unit position.” |
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OCB #1630 OCSEA #818 |
Arbitrator Dwight Washington: Grievant Doug Sollitto; DR&C, 1/10/03 Unambiguous language only allows institutional seniority to follow bargaining unit employees into newly activated institutions under certain conditions. The Arbitrator found no evidence of past practice where OCSEA entered into any settlement agreement that allowed a grievant to receive institutional seniority as a transferred employee and that only OCSEA, not the Employer, could alter the terms of Article 16.01(B). |
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Explanation: |
The language clarifies the provisions of §16.02. Only time spent in a classification that is in a bargaining unit covered by this Agreement counts toward seniority credits for OCSEA members. The language also clarifies that there will be no break in service when an employee is required to resign to go to a new Agency provided the employee is hired within sixty (60) days. The language of this section provides the method under which the Department of Youth Services and Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections employees carry institutional seniority when transferred into a newly activated institution. Language in paragraph C should reflect the established method for crediting part-time employees with seniority credits upon return to work from a period of absence in which the employee held or had a right to return to a bargaining unit position. |
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Attention: |
Staff Representatives, Union Officials; Agency Labor Relations and Personnel Officers, Supervisors; Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Division Payroll Administration. |
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Instructions: |
Non-institutional agencies will only need to maintain state seniority. Institutional agencies will maintain both state seniority and institutional seniority. For example, state seniority would be applicable to promotions and layoffs while institutional seniority may be applicable to work area bids, reassignments, leave requests, overtime, etc. While the language in paragraph C is intended to reflect current practice it is important for Personnel and Payroll Officers to understand its application. After a part-time employee has returned to work from an unpaid leave of absence, it is the responsibility of the agency/facility Personnel Office to determine the number of seniority credits the employee would have earned during the absence and enter the credits into the PAYU file on CICS. The calculation is made be determining the average non-premium hours worked during the six (6) pay periods immediately preceding the leave of absence and multiplying those hours by .0125. The Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Division Payroll Administration and Office of Personnel Services will not calculate or enter such seniority credits. |
An employee who makes application for reinstatement within three years from the date of disability separation or five years from the date of disability retirement and is properly reinstated shall receive seniority credits and service credits for the period of disability separation/or disability retirement.
Except for classifications subsequently accreted to a bargaining unit covered by this Agreement, time spent in a non-unit position subsequent to July 1, 1986, other than temporary working level assignments and assignments to interim positions, by employees who were not covered by this agreement on January 1, 1992, shall not be included in the determination of seniority credits but shall be counted for service credits. For employees covered by the Agreement on January 1, 1992, time spent in a non-unit position subsequent to January 1, 1992 - other than classifications subsequently accreted to a bargaining unit covered by this Agreement, temporary working level assignments and assignments to interim positions - shall not be included in the determination of seniority credits but shall be counted for service credits.
C. Initial Probationary Period
An employee in an initial probationary period shall have no seniority until completion of his/her probationary period. Upon the completion of said probation, the employee will acquire seniority from his/her original date of hire. An employee who has a continuous period of temporary, interim, intermittent or seasonal employment prior to receiving permanent appointment shall acquire seniority for such time only if that permanent appointment occurred prior to July 1, 1989.
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Explanation |
Employees in their initial probationary period will have no seniority until probation is completed. |
Ties in State seniority shall be broken in the descending numeric order of the last four digits of the employee's social security number. The highest number will be 9999 and the lowest will be 0000. Any remaining ties will be broken by lot. Ties in Institutional seniority shall be broken in the order of State seniority.
Where the relative ranking of seniority has been previously established by the time stamped on the employee Personnel Action by the Department of Administrative Services and then by comparison of the last four digits of the employee's social security number, such relative ranking shall not be changed.
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Explanation: |
Seniority is first determined by seniority credits. Where seniority credits are equal, ties are broken by looking at the last four digits of the employees’ social security numbers. The second paragraph maintains the current relative ranking of employees with otherwise same seniority dates. |
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Attention: |
Agency Labor Relations and Personnel Officers, Supervisors; Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Division Office of Personnel Services; Staff Representatives, Union Officials. |
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Instructions: |
If a tie had previously been broken, the current order of seniority shall remain. Persons with the same number of seniority credits, hired during the same pay period will be ranked first by seniority credits and then by social security number. As noted previous rankings must be maintained by using the RANK field in the PAYU screen of CICS. |
Quarterly, the Employer shall prepare a roster of all bargaining unit employees in an institution, geographic jurisdiction or agency as appropriate. The roster will list employees in descending order of State seniority credits and will contain each employee's name, State seniority credits, and Institutional seniority credits if applicable. Seniority rosters will be provided to the chapter president or assembly president and posted in the work areas of affected employees. Each employee's individual employee seniority credits will be displayed on the employee's earnings statement.
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Attention: |
Staff Representatives, Union Officials; Agency Labor Relations and Personnel Officers; Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Division, Office of Personnel Services. |
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Instructions: |
HRD, Office of Payroll Administration has established a system for recording seniority credits. Agency Payroll personnel are responsible for making changes in the seniority roster. A copy of the roster is to be provided to the Union chapter or assembly president and posted in each work area quarterly. HRD/OCB sends the Union’s copies of the seniority lists directly to OCSEA central office. |
The following principles and procedures shall apply to the conversion from a date-based seniority system to a system based upon seniority credits:
A. Principles, methods or understandings used to determine seniority standing or to resolve disputes over relative seniority ranking under prior agreements will not be altered by the provisions of this Agreement. That is, if a seniority dispute has previously been raised and resolved, the prior resolution of that matter will stand.
B. Effective September 1, 1994, seniority credits shall replace seniority dates as the basis for determining relative seniority standing or seniority rights under this Agreement.
C. In the event that non-bargaining unit employees enter the bargaining unit, the Union shall have the opportunity to contact OCB to review and verify those employees’ seniority credits. This review is to be initiated within six (6) pay periods of the pay period in which the Union is notified of the personnel action.
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Attention: |
Agency Labor Relations and Personnel Officers, Supervisors; Department of Administrative Services, Human Resources Division Office of Personnel Services; Staff Representatives, Union Officials. |
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Instructions: |
HRD, Office of Payroll Administration will supply OCSEA with a list of exempt employees entering the bargaining unit each pay period. The Union must raise any challenge directly to OCB, which will coordinate any needed changes with agencies. |