Here are answers to some frequently asked questions
Confused about about changes in reporting time, attendance?
Q: What is Article 12.17?
A: Article 12.17 is a provision of the PS&T contract that has existed for 30 years and contains the important bar to time-keeping — “No employee in this unit shall be required to punch a time clock or record attendance with a timekeeper.” It also has always provided that overtime eligible employees (SG-22 and below) “shall be required to keep daily time records showing actual hours worked.” Critical to a full understanding of 12.17 is Article 12.12 which provides that time-keeping records shall be maintained “on a self-accounting basis.”
Q: What changes did PEF and GOER negotiate in Article 12.17 of the contract?
A: Overtime ineligible employees (SG-23 and up) are now required to record actual hours worked in the same manner that has existed for many years for their overtime-eligible colleagues (SG-22 and below). The prohibition on the use of time clocks or recording time with a timekeeper were preserved, as well as the provision that employees continue to maintain time on a self-accounting basis.
Q: Did PEF agree to any changes regarding the manner in which grade 22s and below keep their time sheets?
A: No. PEF did not agree to any revision of agency practices for SG 1-22, and only agreed that SG 23s and above would adopt the same attendance practices as their lower graded PEF co-workers.
The negotiated change simply removed the historic distinction between overtime-eligible (SG 1-22) and ineligible employees (SG 23-38) that justified different methods of maintaining time records for each. As a result of this change, Article 12.17 now permits agencies to require overtime-ineligible employees to record “actual hours worked” in the same manner as is required of overtime-eligible employees. However, the change in language did not modify historic language or practice applicable to overtime-eligible employees.
Q: My salary grade is 22 or below. If my agency directs that I change the way I have filled out my time sheets, what should I do?
A: Follow the directive or risk being charged with insubordination. Then consider filing a grievance. PEF has already filed class-action grievances challenging several situations like this. Yours may be one of them. If you aren’t sure, contact your local PEF representative or call your regional PEF office or call PEF headquarters at 1-800-342-4306, ext. 223.
Q: What will PEF do?
A: The contract language covering grade 22s and below has been in effect for nearly 30 years. It provides important protections for the membership. PEF will file a grievance and vigorously defend against any violation of this provision.
Q: Under the new contract, how do overtime-ineligible employees record their time?
A: Overtime-ineligible employees (SG-23 and above) will record their time in the same manner as their co-workers who are eligible for overtime. Instead of just marking “Present” or “Absent,” they will record the actual hours worked. The specific forms used, the information required and practices all vary by agency. However, the recording of actual hours worked does not make a SG-23 employee eligible for overtime. Repeatedly throughout the negotiations, the state’s negotiators stated they were not interested in making more employees eligible for overtime.
Q: I am overtime-ineligible. If I can’t get overtime, can I adjust my schedule?
A: Maybe. It depends on your agency policy and supervisor. Statewide attendance and leave policy provides that individual appointing authorities may approve individual “work-schedule adjustments” which may vary arrival or departure time or the length of a meal period in appropriate cases at agency discretion. Such work-schedule adjustments typically must be made within the same pay period as the day(s) the excess time was worked. A work-schedule adjustment should be worked out with your supervisor consistent with any agency-specific policy or labor-management agreement on the subject.
Q: What does the sideletter mean that electronic systems cannot be used for time and attendance?
A: Electronic-recognition systems have long been used in many state agencies. Most often, they are used as electronic keys to restrict access to some or all parts of a building or parking facility. Recent technological advances, however, have made it possible to use electronic systems for other purposes.
When such systems are accessed, the computers invariably record the time each individual used their card or other device to access the system. This has been the case for many years, and PEF has enforced the language of 12.17 to assure that the information collected by these systems could not be used for time and attendance purposes. A sideletter included in this contract reiterates this position, making clear that the changes to the language of Article 12.17 (to have overtime-ineligible employees record their actual hours worked) has no affect on our protections against time-keeping.
Q: Management is implementing changes in time-keeping for everyone and portraying changes in the contract as a major concession that PEF made. So, who actually agreed to what? What’s the problem? How do we fix it?
A: PEF agreed to have overtime-ineligible employees (Salary Grades 23 and above) account for their bi-weekly attendance on the same self-reporting form, and in the same way, that overtime eligible employees (Salary Grades 22 and below) had historically been, and were currently, doing.
PEF agreed to currently existing practices, not the changes in historic and current practices the state is unilaterally attempting to impose on PEF members.
All changes agreed to by PEF were fully reported on the PEF Web site and in The Communicator and were distributed to every member as part of the contract-ratification process. The state is now attempting to get something that PEF did not agree to at the table. PEF is using, and will use, all administrative, legal and political resources necessary to address the situation.
Q: Why did PEF agree to the change in how overtime-ineligible employees (SG 23 and above) report their time and attendance?
A: PEF agreed that the 25 percent of its membership that is overtime-ineligible would report its time and attendance in the same manner as the 75 percent of its membership which is overtime-eligible had been doing for the past 30 years for the following reasons:
• By making this minimal concession, PEF preserved the protections of Article 12.17, specifically the prohibitions against “time-keeping;” and
• The state would not have agreed to a contract without this change.
Q: I am confused about the interpretation of the language in Article 12.17 that states employees in the unit “shall be required to keep daily time records showing actual hours worked ....” Does this mean I have to record the actual times of my arrivals and departures from work to the minute, the scheduled hours I work, or the total number of hours I work?
A: The contract language “shall be required to keep daily time records showing actual hours worked” has existed in the contract for 30 years. Over these 30 years, different agencies have adopted different methods for recording “actual hours worked” in compliance with this provision.
Agencies have not required precise, to-the-minute, recording of arrival and departure times because this requirement would violate the first sentence bar to time-keeping that has always and currently still exists in 12.17.
In many agencies, recording of one’s schedule (noting any significant deviations from normal arrival and departure times) accompanied by appropriate charges to accruals for absences and specific notation of any overtime worked is established practice. However, other agencies have established practices of recording the actual gross number of hours worked (normally 7.5 or 8 hours), with appropriate charges to accruals for absences and specific notation of any overtime worked.
Depending upon the historical practice in your agency, either example may comply with the requirement to record “actual hours worked.”
The key issue to focus on is whether there is a change in the 30-year practice for grade 22s and below in your agency. An identified change in that practice affects all PS&T employees, including the grade 23s and above, and may mean a violation of the contract. Your PEF steward and field rep should review any change immediately.