8.1 General.
(a) Hours of work for regular monthly employees in the bargaining units listed in Appendix I shall be established by the employing official.
(b) Overtime may be assigned outside of normally scheduled shifts and compensated in accordance with Section 8.6.
8.2 Definitions.
(a) Full-time Employee. A regular monthly staff employee scheduled to work forty (40) hours per week in a seven (7) day period; or for designated hospital personnel scheduled to work eighty (80) hours in a fourteen (14) day period.
(b) Part-time Employee. A regular monthly staff employee scheduled to work a minimum of twenty (20) hours per week but less than forty (40) per week in a seven (7) day period; or for designated hospital personnel scheduled to work more than forty (40) hours but less than eighty (80) hours in a fourteen (14) day period. Part-time employees shall receive all benefits of employment on a pro-rata basis, except health benefits coverage which is determined by the state.
8.3 Work Day/Meal Period.
(a) The normal work day for full-time employees typically shall be eight (8) hours to be completed within a nine (9) hour period. Meal breaks shall be a minimum of thirty (30) minutes, unpaid and on the employee's own time, provided the employee is off-duty for that meal period. It is the Employer's intention to provide uninterrupted meal breaks.
(b) The meal period shall commence not earlier than the second hour of the shift nor later than the fifth hour of the shift. If the employee is required to work beyond the fifth hour without a break, the employee will be allowed to eat his/her meal at the duty station on the Employer's time.
Rest Breaks. Employees shall receive a fifteen (15) minute break during each four (4) hours worked. It is the Employer's intention to provide uninterrupted rest breaks.
8.5 Work Period Designations/Scheduled Work Periods. Each position will be assigned by the personnel officer to one of the work period designations identified below. Employees will be informed of their eligibility for overtime compensation.
(a) Scheduled work periods, within which there are two (2) work schedules:
(1) Regular work schedule. The regular work schedule for full-time regular monthly employees shall consist of five (5) consecutive and uniformly scheduled eight (8) hour days in a seven (7) day period. Uniformly scheduled means a daily repetition of the same working hours and a weekly repetition of the same working days.
(2) Alternative work schedule. Operational necessity or employee convenience may require positions that are normally designated regular work schedule to work an alternate forty (40) hour work schedule (other than five (5) uniform and consecutive eight (8) hour days in a seven (7) day period), or as provided by the Washington State Minimum Wage Law in conjunction with the federal law which provides for an eighty (80) hour work week in a fourteen (14) day period for hospital personnel.
(b) Nonscheduled Work Period. The nonscheduled work period designation applies to those positions for which the hours cannot be scheduled but which work a forty (40) hour week and do not meet any of the other work period designations.
(c) Part-time Schedule. This is any deviation from any full-time schedule which includes twenty (20) hours or more per week but less than forty (40) hours per week in seven (7) consecutive days; or for designated hospital personnel forty (40) or more hours and less than eighty (80) hours in a fourteen (14) day period.
8.6 Overtime.
(a) Any one of the following constitutes overtime:
(1) Work in excess of the daily work shift for full-time employees assigned to scheduled work period positions;
(2) Work in excess of forty (40) hours in one (1) work week for employees assigned to scheduled or nonscheduled work period positions; or
(3) For hospital personnel assigned to a fourteen (14) day schedule, work in excess of eight (8) hours in a twenty four (24) hour period or eighty (80) hours in a fourteen (14) day period.
(b) Overtime worked by employees assigned to scheduled or nonscheduled work positions shall be compensated at a rate of one and one-half (1-1/2) times the employee's straight time hourly rate including shift differential for all overtime worked as provided in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Employees assigned to scheduled or nonscheduled work period positions shall receive monetary payment as compensation for overtime worked; however, at the employee's request compensatory time off at one and one-half (1-1/2) times the overtime hours worked may be granted in lieu of monetary payment. The accumulation of unused compensatory time that exceeds two hundred forty (240) hours must be paid in cash.
(d) If compensation is paid to an employee for accrued compensatory time, such compensation shall be paid at the regular rate earned by the employee at the time the employee receives such payment. Upon termination of employment, an employee will be paid for any unused compensatory time in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
(e) Use of accrued compensatory time shall be approved by the employing official with consideration being given to the work requirements of the department and the wishes of the employee. Compensatory time off may be scheduled by the employing official during the final sixty (60) days of a biennium.
Compensatory time must be used or paid for by June 30th of each fiscal year. Exceptions to this policy may be approved by the Human Resources Office upon written justification of the extension.
(f) For purposes of computing overtime compensation, holidays or leave with pay during the employee's regular work schedule shall be considered as time worked.
8.7 Overtime Policies.
(a) Whenever overtime work is required, the employing official shall determine the employees needed to work overtime on the basis of their relevant experience. Overtime shall be distributed as equitably as possible among qualified employees.
(b) A record of overtime hours worked by each employee shall be kept by the Employer, and such record of overtime may be reviewed, upon request, by the Union.
(c) It is intended that overtime wages for which salary payment is to be made shall be paid to the employee on the paydate following the pay period in which the overtime was earned. In no event shall such overtime payments be made later than thirty (30) calendar days from the end of the pay period in which the overtime was earned providing the payroll office has received the Exception Time Report (ETR) authorizing such payment within the time limits set by the payroll department.
(d) All employees assigned to scheduled and nonscheduled work periods in classifications listed in Appendix I shall be eligible for overtime.
(e) Temporary Modified Weekly Schedule. By mutual agreement, individual employees and their supervisors may agree to a temporary modified weekly schedule. This schedule allows employees to alter their regular daily working hours within a work week without generating the payment of overtime (unless the employee works beyond forty (40) hours in the employee's regular work week). Temporary modified weekly scheduling adjustments must be completed within the employee's regular work week. Such scheduling will not be considered a regularly recurring alternative schedule.
8.8 Shift Assignment Notification. The Employer agrees to provide a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days notice to an employee in the event of an Employer-directed permanent change in the employee's shift assignment or work schedule. For temporary changes in work assignment occurring within the employee's assigned work week, the Employer will provide two (2) calendar days notice with the day of notification constituting the first day of notice. For emergency reasons, lack of work, an existing safety hazard to the employee or others, or mutual agreement between the Employer and employee under Article 8.7(e), the Employer may temporarily change an employee's schedule with fewer than two (2) calendar days notice. Temporary is defined as no longer than one (1) week.
Temporary shift changes not mutually agreed to shall not be employed to avoid the accrual of overtime.
The assignment of employees in various shifts within each work group or department shall be determined by the employing official, provided that when qualifications are substantially equal in the judgment of the employing department, seniority shall be a factor in determining shift assignment. This criteria does not apply to positions deemed by the employer to require a rotational shift.
8.9 Callback Pay. When a scheduled work period employee has left the institution grounds and is called to return to the work station outside of regularly scheduled hours, he/she shall receive two (2) hours bonus pay plus time actually worked. The bonus pay shall be compensated at the regular rate; time worked shall be compensated at time and one-half (1-1/2). Time worked immediately preceding the regular shift does not constitute call back, provided time worked does not exceed two (2) hours or notice of at least eight (8) hours has been given. An employee on standby status called to return to the work station does not qualify for call back pay.
8.10 Off Duty Work. Scheduled or nonscheduled employees not on standby status who are required to perform substantial work-related duties via telephone outside their regular duty hours and away from their work station shall be compensated in the event any such telephone call is initiated by the Employer. Such time worked shall be credited at a minimum of four (4) dollars or for eligible employees overtime payment shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Article. The employee shall be paid whichever is greater.8.11 Standby Pay. Scheduled or nonscheduled work period employees required to restrict off-duty activities to be available for duty shall be compensated at a rate of $1.75 per hour, except for those job titles listed in Appendix III, which shall receive the applicable rates. Employees who, on the effective date of this Agreement, receive standby in excess of those rates shall continue to do so. When called in from standby status, the employee shall receive premium pay (time and one-half [1-1/2] the employee's regular rate) for a minimum work period of two (2) hours. The two (2) hours pay shall not apply unless the employee has left the employer's premises.
8.12 Shift Differential. Employees assigned to evening and night shifts shall receive a shift differential of $1.00 per hour, except for those job titles listed in Appendix III, which shall receive the applicable rates. Evening shift is defined as a majority of time worked daily or weekly between 5:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. Night shift is defined as a majority of time worked daily or weekly between 12:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Any classification which receives a higher shift differential on the effective date of this Agreement shall continue to do so. Shift differential shall be paid for the entire shift which qualifies. When an employee is regularly assigned to an afternoon or evening shift that qualifies for shift differential, he/she shall continue to receive the shift differential during temporary assignment, not to exceed five (5) working days, to a shift that does not qualify.
8.13 Language Pay. Whenever a position has a bona fide requirement for regular use of more than one (1) language, or sign language (AMESLAN), or braille, premium pay of two (2) steps above the level normally assigned for that position shall be paid except for those instances where the position is allocated to a class that specifies these skills.
8.14 Alternative/Flexible Schedules. The University's official hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Departments having continuous and/or public responsibility may establish independent work schedules in order to meet their special needs. Departments are encouraged to establish flexible work schedules and to give serious consideration to employee requests. Individual requests for flexible scheduling may be approved by the employing official, provided that such scheduling does not interfere with the effective operation of the department and shall be dependent upon such considerations as building accessibility and security.
Notwithstanding the above provision an employee may file a grievance and process such grievance to Step Two of the grievance procedure on the grounds that the decision was arbitrary and not made for business reasons. If the grievance is not resolved it shall be considered withdrawn.
Within three (3) months of the execution of this Agreement, the parties agree to meet and develop a survey regarding Alternate/Flex Work Schedules. This survey shall be sent to all bargaining unit employees with their paycheck/paystub and will seek to determine the extent to which alternate work schedules are in place throughout the University, including requests, approval and denials of alternate work schedules.
8.15 Excepted Work Period Positions. Employees assigned to excepted work period positions normally do not qualify for overtime pay. However, when an employing official determines that the employee has been directed to work an excessive amount of hours for an extended period of time, overtime in the form of compensatory time or cash not to exceed a "time and one half (1-1/2)" basis may be approved by the Vice President for Human Resources.
When the University creates or modifies a classification such that it is excepted from overtime in accordance with the law, the Union shall be notified in advance of implementation. This language does not preclude the Union or any individual employee from challenging the University's overtime determination in appropriate forums.
8.16 Telework. The parties agree that the Employer may offer telework opportunities. If the Employer chooses to offer such opportunities, the Employer may enter into direct discussions with the affected employee(s) regarding the components of a written telework agreement. Such agreements shall be between the affected employee(s) and the department. Upon request, the Employer shall meet and confer with the Union regarding the agreements. The agreements will address the treatment of work time in the event of equipment failure.
8.17 Staffing Concerns. Staff are strongly encouraged to bring concerns about staffing issues to the attention of their department(s). Local 925 can request that the Office of Labor Relations set up a Joint Labor Management meeting for the particular department. The Union can also place on the agenda of any Labor Management meeting the issue of staffing in particular departments/units.
8.18 Weekend Pay. All hours worked on weekends by employees in applicable job titles shall include a weekend pay premium in accordance with Appendix III.