Optional days

Q

Quiet troll

Guest
Our Division manager has apperently instituted a new policy concerning call-ins. Drivers who call in for any reason now must use a sick day or they will be coded out as an optional day. This is his way of trying to decrease the number of call-ins. This policy was started last week and since we were not informed we've had a few drivers who have already lost optional days after requesting to not be paid a sick when they called. When our shop steward asked our supervisor he informed him of the new policy then told him even though it isn't in the contract they can still do it so the matter was dead. My question of course is wether they are correct.

We are in the Metro DC District and our supervisor wasn't sure if it was district wide or just our division. Alot of us junior drivers bid our optional days as vacation weeks and our supervisor said that we will lose that week if we call in.
 

outta hours

Well-Known Member
If you bid option 3 the first seven days of the year that you miss work ( call in, sch. off, layoff, etc) will be paid as option days. If you bid option 2 for a week off with pay you have no sick days available and therefore cannot lose the week that you posted as an extra week of vacation. If you bid option 1 and take the 58 hrs pay with no time off then you also have no sick days. Read your supplement and take time to find out these answers for yourself. Do not count on a supervisor to give you accurate information. I have seen sups. tell a jr. driver they cannot use funeral leave during peak, or the busy summer vacation months. Both of which are incorrect. Talk to your steward or BA. Good luck
 

UPSmeoff

Well-Known Member
I bid a week of sick days as a vacation every year, and then call in 5 times unpaid. I look at it as an extra 5 days off a year. No one has said anything about it in the last 13 years.

Maybe i shouldnt have said that,....




youll never find me copper....see.....i got a bottle of jack....see.....and im not afraid to use it....see
 

wily_old_vet

Well-Known Member
what center in metro dc I was in 2083. Doesn't seem legal to me as you have to bid optionals 7 days in advance. I would call the Business Agent and see what they say.
 
Q

Quiet troll

Guest
It's not a center, it's the Division. Dulles, Alex and Springfield Centers. All call in's, for any reason, will be paid from your available days. Either sick or optional days. The Stewards have already filed grievances about it, but they are as surprised as the drivers.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
new policy is just a managers way of trying to push his weight around to see what the union will do. File file file. Only then will foolishness like this stop.

Just like managment trying not to pay our part time their christmas and new years holiday pay because they did not work the both the day before and the day after. That is just BS and they know it. But they tried it anyway.

The last time, it really cost them in the public eye too!

d
 
S

speeddemon

Guest
I work in Alabama, and if we call in, they CANNOT make us use any of our days.(Per the union letter sticking up on the wall)
 

inmt

Member
I am not understanding this thread. What is meant by "calling in"? If you mean to call in saying you can't make it to work, I dont see why it would bother you to use either a sick day or a personal day. I mean, that's what they are there for aren't they?
 
A

Anonymous Coward

Guest
If your car breaks down on the way in, or your child has a fever and you have to stay home because the day care will not allow her in, these are what are considered call in days. I have no problem using sick days if you have any available, but to force you to use your personal holidays is pushing it. According to the contract they can't put you down for anything unless you agree. If you have excessive absences there is a way for them to rectify that situation.

The problem comes with the optional days. Alot of us junior drivers don't have much time off so bid them as week long vacations to spend time with our family. This policy removes that option and you are left to tell your spouse, sorry honey, remember that day I stayed home to take our child to the doctor because she was sick? I can't spend the week with you now but have to work instead. Maybe next year will be perfect and we can spend time together then as a family. BTW we've been told this policy also will cost us regular vacation days if you don't have any optional holidays left.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
Just be happy you have sick days, we get ZERO. But now with Browncafe we know what everyone else gets, so maybe things will change here too.
Staying home with a sick child was never allowed. Actually when I was hired, the sup at the building told me "we dont like to hire women with children, as you need to be here not home with them". My how things have changed. He would get a big lawsuit for that now. And now as many men as women miss work for "that kinda stuff". Imagine that.
 

brownhorn

Well-Known Member
We have the seven option days. The Union's position is that they are to be used the first seven days you miss work (totally at the driver's discretion.) The Company thinks it is some combo of sick and personal days (2 plus 5 or some such.) Every January, we get the same PCM about how Option 3 isn't for call ins. We call the BA, and he says yes it is. I feel like the Sopranos: "and so it goes, this thing of ours."
 

inmt

Member
Thanks for answering my questions. It is so weird to me that it varies across the nation as far as UPS drivers and how much time off they get. Here in central plains... we get 4 personal days each August 1st. All previous days must be used or they get cashed out. For sick leave, we get so many hours each month i think. approx.. 3-4 days per year.

I have been driving now for a few years. I still remember the real fun no holiday, no personal day, no nothing the first year. Real Sweet. :) We have one person in particular that would maybe even quit this job if they couldnt take days off after all their sick and personals are gone. they call in sick, or have another emergency and well, that usually works. However if they start to lose vacation time.... it might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
 
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