Work Life Balance Initial Bargaining Proposals April 4, 2019

The Association retains the right to modify, add to, or delete these proposals

Proposal 

Article of contract

Page

Paid family leave

14

2

Bereavement leave

14

3

Telecommuting

27

4

Vacation 

10

5-7

Hours credited to overtime

27

8

Part time employees and holidays

11

9

Call back

25

10

 

Work Life Balance
Paid family leave

Article 14
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XX. Paid Family Leave

  1. Length of Leave.  Paid family leave shall be granted to eligible state employees up to a total of 480 hours in a year, prorated for employees working less than full time.
  2. Eligibility.   Employees are eligible if they meet eligibility criteria for Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave, which generally means the employee has been employed by the Employer for twelve (12) months and has worked at least 1,250 hours during the year immediately preceding the leave.  
  3. Use.  Paid family leave (“PFL”) is available to employees to use in place of the use of sick leave as described under Article 12, Section 3.B. Employees using PFL may use it prior to the use of sick leave.  PFL not used within the year may not be carried over or cashed out.
  4. Interaction with Other Leaves. Paid family leave will run concurrently with any unpaid leave(s) that employees may be entitled to under other provisions of this Agreement or provided by law.  Employees shall not receive other types of paid leave provided by this Agreement (e.g., sick, vacation, compensatory time) for hours for which they are receiving PFL.

 

Work Life Balance
Bereavement leave

Article 14

Section 2. Leaves With Pay. Paid leaves of absence granted under this Article shall not exceed the employee's work schedule. Statutory leaves are listed in Appendix M.
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XX. Bereavement Leave. An employee may take up to five (5) days of leave in cases of death of the spouse, the domestic partner, parents andgrandparents of the spouse or parents/step parents, grandparents, guardian, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, wards, stepchildren of the employee or parent of the employee’s minor child.  The supervisor shall make a reasonable effort to adjust the hours of an employee in order to permit his/her attendance at the funeral of a co-worker. Any additional bereavement leave will be covered by Article 12, Section 3.D.

 

Work Life Balance
Telecommuting

Article 27

Section 1.  General Provisions.  The following provisions apply to all employees covered by the terms of this Agreement.

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J. Telecommuting Plans.  If a request to telecommute is denied, upon request of the employee, the Appointing Authority shall provide the employee the reason(s) for the denial of the request.  An employee’s request to telecommute shall be granted unless the Appointing Authority has a legitimate business reason to deny the request.  Such denials shall made be in writing within seven (7) days of the receipt of the request. 

 

Work Life Balance
Vacation leave

Article 10.

Section 1. General Conditions.

Eligibility. All employees except intermittent employees, emergency employees, and temporary employees shall be eligible employees for the purpose of this Article.  However, intermittent employees shall become eligible employees for the purposes of this Article after completion of sixty-seven (67) working days in any twelve (12) month period.  Temporary unclassified employees appointed for periods longer than six (6) months shall be considered eligible for purposes of this Article.  Eligible employees appointed to emergency or temporary status from a layoff status shall continue to be eligible to accrue vacation leave.

Crediting and Use of Vacation Upon Entry.  Upon entry into State service, an eligible employee shall be credited with forty (40) hours of vacation leave.  If a current employee in State service in a position that is not eligible for vacation is appointed to a MAPE position that is eligible for vacation, he/she shall be credited with forty (40) hours of vacation leave.  Such credit shall be reduced proportionately as vacation leave is accumulated. Vacation hours credited upon entry to State service but not offset by accumulated vacation prior to separation from State service shall not be eligible for liquidation.  If a current employee in State service is appointed to a MAPE position and that employee has his/her accumulated vacation leave hours transferred, the employee shall not be credited with additional vacation leave hours. Use is subject to Section 3, Vacation Period, of this Article.

Section 2. Accruals. All eligible employees shall accrue vacation in accordance with the following rates:

Length of Service Requirement                             Rate Per Full Payroll Period

0-5 years                                                                    4 working hours
After 5-8 years                                                          5 working hours
After 8-12 years                                                        7 working hours
After 12-18 years                                                      7 ½ working hours
After 18-25 years                                                      8 working hours
After 25-30 years                                                      8 ½ working hours
After 30 years                                                           9 working hours

0 < 2 years                                                                 5 working hours
2 < 5 years                                                                 6 working hours
5 < 10 years                                                               7 working hours
10 < 15 years                                                             8 working hours
15 < 20 years                                                             9 working hours
≥20 years                                                                   10 working hours

Eligible employees being paid for less than a full eighty (80) hour payroll period shall have their vacation accrual pro-rated in accordance with the schedule set forth in Appendix A.

Length of service is defined as the length of employment with the State of Minnesota since the last date of hire in a vacation eligible status. Length of service shall be interrupted only by separation because of resignation, termination, discharge for just cause, failure to return upon expiration of a leave of absence, failure to respond to a recall from layoff or retirement.

Changes in accrual rates shall be made effective at the beginning of the next payroll period following completion of the specified length of service requirement.

Effective July 9, 1975, for purposes of determining an employee's accrual rate, periods of suspension or unpaid non-medical leaves of absence of more than one (1) pay period shall be deducted for purposes of determining an employee's accrual rate; however, periods of paid or unpaid military leave shall not be deducted.  This method will be effective only after this date and shall not be used to change any length of service requirements determined prior to that date.

Effective February 17, 1994, leave time for service to the Association in any capacity shall not be deducted for purposes of determining an employee's vacation accrual rate.

An eligible employee reinstated or reappointed to State service within four (4) years of the date of after resignation in good standing or retirement from any branch of Minnesota State government, shall accrue vacation leave with the same credit for length of service that existed at the time of such separation. This method shall not be used to change any length of service requirements determined prior to July 1, 1983.

Employees of the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Metropolitan Council, and former members of the Minnesota Legislature who transfer or who are appointed to State service within four (4) years of the date of resignation in good standing, ending of his/her Legislative term, or retirement, shall accrue vacation leave with the same credit for length of service that existed at the time of such transfer or separation. Such employees shall begin accruing vacation leave based on this method effective at the beginning of the first payroll period following the date the employee applies.

An eligible employee who moves without a break in service to a MAPE position from any other position in any branch of Minnesota State government shall have his/her accumulated but unused vacation leave transferred, provided that the total amount of accumulated vacation does not exceed two hundred and seventy-five (275) hours.

At the discretion of the Appointing Authority, employees who are hired into State service from another public sector employer, including the United States Armed Forces, or from a private sector employer in a position directly related to the employee’s current State position, and who were in a vacation eligible position with that employer may be granted length of service credit in an amount up to the length of time employed by the previous employer(s).

Length of service credit shall be subject to the following conditions:

  1. There must be evidence to establish that the employee was employed by another public sector employer, tribal government, or by a private sector employer in a position directly related to the employee’s current initial State position within four (4) years of the date the State hired the employee; current bargaining unit employees may request consideration for previous employment as described in this paragraph;
  2. The employee must have been in a vacation eligible position with the previous employer(s);
  3. The employee must provide the necessary documentation demonstrating his/her previous vacation eligibility status;
  4. The eligibility of previous experience and the amount of the length of service credit granted is at the discretion of  determined by the Appointing Authority.
  5. An employee who desires to protest a length of service credit decision may do so by appealing to their Appointing Authority.  Appointing Authorities shall develop a procedure for these appeals and shall respond to such an appeal in writing within fourteen (14) days.  Employees may be represented by the Association in discussions with the Appointing Authority relating to this section. 

Changes in the accrual rate shall become effective retroactive to the date of hire. the beginning of the next payrollperiod following the Appointing Authority’s approval of the adjusted rateand shall not be retroactive.

Employees may accumulate unused vacation leave to any amount…

 

Work Life Balance
Hours credited to overtime

Article 27

Section 2. Overtime Compensation for Non-Exempt Employees.  In conjunction with Section 1 above, employees declared to be non-exempt by the Employer or the United States Department of Labor shall be governed by this section.

A. Normal Work Period. The normal work period shall be forty (40) hours of work during seven (7) consecutive days.  The Appointing Authority may use other work periods permitted by the Fair Labor Standards Act and shall notify the employee when those other work periods are in effect.

B. Overtime.  Hours worked in excess of the maximum number of hours permitted in each applicable work period are overtime hours.  All paid vacation time, paid holidays, paid sick leave,paid compensatory time off,and paid leaves of absence shall not be considered as "time worked" for purposes of this Section.  However, non-exempt employees in classifications with the salary range maximum rates which are lower than the maximum rate of salary range 7-L shall havevacation, sick leave and holiday hours shall be considered as “time worked” for purposes of this section.

Employees may adjust or exchange hours with the approval of the immediate supervisor(s), provided such change does not result in the payment of overtime.

 

Work Life Balance
Part time employees and holidays

Article 11

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Section 4. Holiday Pay. Holiday pay shall be computed at the employee’s normal day’s pay (an employee’s regular hourly rate of pay multiplied by the number of hours in his/her normal work day) and shall be paid in cash. Eligible employees who normally work less than full-time shall have their holiday pay pro-rated in accordance with the schedule set forth in Appendix B.

With the approval of his/her supervisor, part-time employees may be allowed to arrange their work schedules in payroll periods that include a holiday, to avoid any reduction in salary due to a loss of hours because of the pro-ration of holiday hours. If an employee is unable to rearrange their work schedule, the employee shall be allowed to use vacation leave to avoid any reduction in salary due to a loss of hours because of the pro-ration of holiday hours.

 

Work Life Balance
Call back

Article 25 

Section 1. Call-In.Any employee who is called in to work for early report by his/her supervisor outside his/her regularly scheduled shift shall be paid a minimum of two (2) hours at the appropriate overtime rate. A call-in occurs when the work assignment and the employee's regular shift overlap and the employee shall be paid the appropriate overtime rate until his/her regular shift begins. The minimum payment for call in shall be either the two (2) hours amount at the appropriate overtime rate or the actual hours worked during the call in at the overtime rate, whichever is greater.

Section 2. Call-Back.An employee who is called back to work by his/her supervisor outside his/her regularly scheduled shift, shall be paid a minimum of two (2) hours at the appropriate overtime rate. A call-back occurs when the employee is required, without prior notice, to report to the worksite after the end of the employee's last worked shift, but not immediately preceding the next scheduled work shift. An early report or extension of a shift shall not constitute a call-back. Employees who are called back to work shall be reimbursed mileage for driving to and from their work station and their home if they use their own vehicle.

If an employee is called back to work outside their regularly scheduled shift, but can do the task remotely from their location, they shall be paid a minimum of two (2) hours at the appropriate overtime rate.