A page from the PS&T Contract Article12.17
GOER memo opened door to contract violations
Time-keeping changes spark PS&T grievances
By SHERRY HALBROOK
If you are a state PS&T employee, you are protected from having to punch a time clock.
PS&T Contract Article 12.17 states: “No employee in this unit shall be required to punch a time clock or record attendance with a timekeeper.”
This language has been part of every PS&T contract since 1970.
But you would never know it, by the number of state agencies that are trying to get around the time-keeping prohibition.
PEF found itself working overtime in late December and January in an effort to keep up with all of the reports of violations of Article 12.17 that began popping up from members throughout state service.
Whatever it takes
Already, the union has filed class-action grievances on behalf of PS&T employees at a variety of agencies and worksites, including the state Transportation Department, the Office of the State Comptroller, the state Insurance Fund, the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services and the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.
PEF is charging that these agencies have violated the contract by instituting new time-keeping rules.
“We will do whatever it takes, including litigation, to ensure the contract is implemented as it was negotiated,” states PEF President Roger Benson.
Contract change limited
The violations may have been triggered by a November 2000 memo about changes in Article 12.17 that was sent by the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations to all state agencies.
GOER seemed to interpret the contract changes as justifying changes in the ways agencies have kept time and attendance records for PS&T employees, whether they are overtime eligible, or not.
“PEF did not agree to any revision of agency practices for members in grades 1 through 22 — those who are overtime eligible,” says PEF Director of Contract Administration Robert Carrothers.
“We only agreed that people in grades 23 and higher (those ineligible for overtime) would now adopt the same practices as their PS&T co-workers in the lower pay grades,” he adds.
The new contract states that all PS&T employees must keep daily records showing actual hours worked, absences and all leave credits earned and used “in accordance with the attendance rules on forms to be provided by the state, subject to review and approval by the supervisor.”
This requirement has been in effect for overtime-eligible employees for the last 30 years.
Prior to the new contract taking effect, employees who were not eligible for overtime had to mark “present” or “absent” on their daily attendance records.
“The change of language in the contract only affects those in grades 23 and higher, and is not a justification for a change in practice for overtime-eligible employees,” Carrothers says.
On the lookout
It appears that still more agencies are preparing to change their time-keeping practices.
Notify your PEF field representative immediately If your agency or worksite changes its time-keeping practices, so that the union can evaluate whether the change violates the contract.
This includes any change in the use of centralized sign-in and sign-out sheets.
Also alert your field rep to any new policies requiring overtime-ineligible employees to get prior authorization from their supervisors for working hours in excess of their basic workweek.
And the field rep should be notified if data gathered by electronic-recognition systems is used in any way for time-and-attendance purposes.