DNR Vacation Accrual: Note to members A big win for MAPE members!

Vacation Accrual note to members

A big win for MAPE members!

DNR MAPE members,

Recently, HR director Denise Legato shared that DNR was removing the 5-year cap on vacation accrual credit and implementing the vacation accrual credit language negotiated in the 2023-2025 contract. MAPE had a historic win in this arena for the 2023-2025 contract cycle by successfully negotiating to:

• remove limitations to allow all prior work experience related to the current position,
• removed the requirement that prior positions be vacation-eligible positions,
• removed the requirement for documentation from a previous employer(s) and
• removed the 4-year limitation that stated that if there was a 4-year or more gap in state service, vacation accrued prior to the 4-year gap in service would not be credited.

This last piece is a big win for creating a more equitable workplace that supports staff who choose to leave state service either to care for children or other family members, pursue a graduate degree, move out of state, or any number of other reasons.

Your DNR-MAPE meet and confer team is grateful and appreciative of the more than 500 DNR staff who signed the Vacation Accrual Petition that helped push this over the finish line. We have been sharing with management since October 2023 that the 5-year cap and the implementation of the new contract language was an important issue for the majority of MAPE members. We are extremely proud of our work with management on this accomplishment and it wouldn’t have happened with you!
 

Additional information that may help you fill out the form to request vacation accrual credit.

You must submit your request by Oct. 4 to receive retroactive vacation accrual credit. For staff whose vacation accrual credit will change because of the 2023-2025 contract changes, the retroactive date is Aug. 16, 2023. For staff who were previously capped at 5-years and were not affected by the contract changes, the retroactive date is Aug. 26, 2024. If you submit the form after Oct. 4, the effective date will be your actual submission date, not the date the MAPE contract went into effect.

The form has three options for the type of request:

• Request more than 5 years of accrual credit. Vacation accrual credit was not received because qualified work experience under the previous contract was capped at 5 years.
• Request additional experience as a result of Bargaining Unit language changes. Vacation accrual credit not received because you were not in a vacation-eligible position at a previous job or could not acquire the needed documentation from your previous employer, or you accrued vacation in a state position prior to a 4-year gap in service.
• Both options. Select this option if BOTH of the above apply to you. If you have prior related work experience that was not vacation-eligible (based on new contract language), AND you were not given vacation accrual credit for related work beyond the 5-year cap (based on old contract language), this option applies to you.

Also, note that this does not automatically count all previous work experience. Work experience has to be related to the job you currently hold with DNR; for example, if you were a full-time car salesperson for 10 years and now you are an Architect, you might still have a hard time getting those 10 years of credit. If you feel HR might question how your previous job skills are transferrable, we suggest attaching additional information with your request explaining how your past position experience relates to your current position at DNR. 
 

MAPE Contract Language

Below is an excerpt from the current MAPE contract, Article 10, Vacation Leave, Section 2. Accruals:

At the discretion of the Appointing Authority, employees who are hired into State service may be granted length of service credit in an amount up to the total years of previous work related to the employee's current State position in an amount determined by the Appointing Authority. At the Appointing Authority’s discretion and in an amount determined by the Appointing Authority, current bargaining unit employees may request consideration for length of service credit in an amount up to the total years of previous work related to the employee’s current State position.

This is what was removed from the previous contract:
Removed limitations to allow all prior work experience related to current position, removed requirement that prior positions be vacation-eligible positions, removed requirement for documentation from previous employer, removed 4-year break in service qualification language.
 

Appeals

If you are unsuccessful in your request and need assistance in understanding HR’s response or writing an appeal, contact one of your MAPE Stewards listed under your local page.
 

Join the movement today!

If you are not yet a MAPE member, we encourage you to learn more and join us so that you can be part of future efforts to improve working conditions and benefits for yourself and your colleagues. The more members we have, the more power we have to push for policy changes like this.

In solidarity,

Your MAPE DNR Meet and Confer team.

Megan Benage, Meet and Confer Chair
Jed Becher, Local 101
Kristi Coughlon, Local 1501
Linda Radimecky, Local 1102
Megan Eiting, Local 101
Monica Weber, Local 101
Keylor Andrews, Local 101
Whitney DeLong, Local 101 
Morgan Sussman, Local 101