PEF, NYS
create ‘emergency vacation’ to save accruals
Terrorists
can’t shoot down members’ vacation credits
By SHERRY HALBROOK
If you couldn’t take your vacation because you were
called to military duty or other approved response
related to the terrorist attacks of 2001, and that put
you over the annual limit on vacation accruals,
don’t despair.
Just because you couldn’t use it, doesn’t
necessarily mean you have to lose it.
 Just a
month after those attacks, PEF and the state reached an
agreement to let you carry the extra vacation accruals
forward as “emergency vacation.” And that
agreement — called a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) — was recently extended to cover a longer time
frame in case members are called to active military duty.
The original MOU on Employee Vacation Use reached in
October 2001 covered employees who, because of the
September 11, attacks met one or more of the following
criteria:
• Performed work in duty status directly related to
activities associated with the state's response to the
WTC disaster;
• Had vacation canceled or denied by an agency;
• Was on approved paid leave to serve as an
emergency volunteer; and
• Was activated for military duty and was identified
by the appointing authority as having performed such
activity.
If these circumstances prevented you from using your
vacation credits more than 40 days prior to the date on
which you would normally have to forfeit them, the
original MOU entitled you to have those excess vacation
credits banked as emergency vacation.
Now, this original MOU on Employee Vacation Use has been
extended for employees if, due to the events of September
11, 2001:
• They are, or continue to be, activated for
military duty and perform such service at any time during
the 26 pay periods immediately following the pay period
that includes October 1, 2002; and
• They are identified by the appointing authority as
performing such military duty for a period of time, that
prevents them from using their vacation credits more than
40 days prior to the date on which they would be
forfeited.
After October 1, 2002, if you are eligible and have
vacation credit in excess of the maximum provided by the
PS&T Contract, this credit will be recorded as
emergency vacation. And all vacation credits you earn
until October 1, 2003, will be added to your emergency
vacation balance. After that, new vacation credits will
be added to your regular vacation account.
Your emergency vacation credits cannot exceed 50 days. If
you are eligible to have emergency vacation credits, all
the vacation you use until October 1, 2003, will be
charged against your emergency vacation until you use it
up or until September 30, 2004, whichever comes first.
Any unused emergency vacation credits will be forfeited
after that date.
If you have questions about emergency vacation, contact
your PEF field representative or the PEF Contract
Administration Department at 1-800-342-4306, ext. 223.
Contract pay
provisions clarified
Members on
military leave won’t lose health insurance
By SHERRY HALBROOK
If you are a PEF PS&T member in the National Guard or
military reserves who may be called to active duty, you
don’t have to worry about losing your state health
insurance while you serve your country.
PEF and the state signed an agreement in October to
extend through 2003 the terms of two previous
military-leave agreements, but with clarifications
regarding health insurance and the use of reduced pay
while on military leave.
Article 9.10(d) of the PS&T Contract (re: health
insurance for activated military) is extended beyond the
negotiated 12-month limit and will end when the
employee’s active duty ends, the employee returns to
state employment, or on December 31, 2003 —
whichever comes first.
You can use supplemental military leave, which provides a
total of 30 calendar days or 22 working days of full
state pay status, just once. That means, while you are on
active military duty or training between September 11,
2001, and December 31, 2003, you will be limited to 30
calendar days or 22 working days of full pay for your
state job.
When the full pay runs out, the PS&T contract
provides for you to receive reduced pay. The calculation
of leave at reduced pay has been clarified.
If you used leave at reduced pay prior to calendar year
2003, the rate of reduced pay for either leave category
at any point in 2003 will depend on whether you are
already using reduced-pay status on the first of the
year.
If you are using it on January 1, 2003, it will be based
on your state salary as of that date and reduced by the
military pay rate used in calculating the most recent
period in either reduced-pay status prior to 2003.
If your first use of either reduced-pay category in 2003
begins after January 1, the rate will be based on your
state salary as of the last day in full-pay status
reduced by the military pay rate used in calculating the
most recent period in either reduced pay status prior to
2003.
If you have not used either leave category of reduced pay
before 2003, the rate in 2003 will be based on your state
salary on the last day in full status reduced by the
military pay rate in effect when you begin reduced-pay
status.
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COMMUNICATOR HOMEPAGE
Inside This
Issue:
Features
PEF’s political action
efforts pay off
Union's top COPE-people take
a bow
Nurses protest at SUNY
Downstate Med.Center
Long view snags threat to
PEF jobs
PEF Scholarships and
financial aid
- January time to apply for student financial aid
- PEF to award 10 Scacalossi Scholarships
- Unions offer $$$ to top students
- Neil Boyle lives on through scholarships
- Tap into a Union Plus
scholarship
Departments
President's Message: Ready
for '03 challenges
You Said It: Member's
letters this month
Member Mobilization:Building
union power
Nurses' Station: Fight for
healthier health care
Health Notes: Choosing your
health plan
Retirees In Action:
Legislative battles ahead
Member In Action: Highlights
page
PEF Membership Benefits
Program & Travel Corp
Union Matters
Trustees Report to the '02
convention
Agency-fee procedure
outlined
Financial Supplement (Audit)
PEF helps spotlight poor
care, understaffing
Members’ 9/11 tribute
on US State Dept. Website
Union striving to keep
service-credit bill alive
Members' vacation credits
safe
Members on military leave health insurance safe
Court: GOER must enforce
order at SIF
PEF rallies to aid injured
member at DOT
Test drive online training
Contract offers DOCS members
help with tuition
ERI windows already opened
or opening
File your HCSAccount claims
by Mar. 31
E- Board makes decisions at
Aug. meeting
Black Caucus to host Holiday
Party
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