Statutory Holidays:
- Wednesday, Dec. 25 and Thursday, December 26, 2013 are the statutory holidays for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
- Wednesday, January 1, 2014, is the statutory holiday for New Year’s Day.
The following are the provisions or recommendations by employee group:
BCGEU REGULAR STAFF
A “regular” staff member means an employee who has an ongoing appointment with no end date.
Article 44 of the collective agreement provides that when Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday, as it does this year, employees will be granted a day’s leave of absence with pay on December 27th. Those employees who are designated to remain on duty shall receive a day off in lieu within the following 12 months.
BCGEU employees will be required to submit a leave request to their supervisor for December 30 and 31, 2013, unless they are required to work for operational reasons. Employees may take vacation time for these days to avoid loss of pay.
BCGEU AUXILIARY STAFF
Auxiliary Staff are paid hourly and should not include December 30 and 31 on their timesheet if they do not work those days.
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Research Assistants will follow the procedure for BCGEU Auxiliary Staff as noted above if they are paid hourly. If they are paid semi-monthly, then their entitlements are the same as regular members.
EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Executive Administrative staff who are normally scheduled to work on the days between Boxing and New Year’s Days will be granted leave of absence with pay unless they are required to work for operational reasons. If required to work they will be paid their regular wages and granted three paid leave of absence days at another mutually agreed upon time. Employees who are not normally scheduled to work on these days are not eligible for this paid leave.
ASSOCIATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF (AAPS)
The Agreement with AAPS, representing Management and Professional Staff, takes a different approach to “Christmas Leave”. Article 10.04 of the AAPS Agreement recognizes that staff members are called upon to work significant additional hours of work. The Article provides guidance to supervisors and staff members on different means of compensation or other offsetting benefits. Several examples are provided, including paid leave for these three working days.
Article 12.9 specifically deals with paid “Christmas Leave” and states:
“…in order to offset significant amounts of hours of work over and above the usual job requirements, employees who are normally scheduled to work may be granted three (3) days leave of absence with pay to be taken between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day unless they are required to work for operational reasons.” Note: December 25 and 26 are the statutory holidays for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
This is not an entitlement to paid leave nor is there provision for carryover. It is, however, a means, within operational requirements, to compensate Management and Professional Staff for their significant additional hours of work over and above the usual job requirements. It may also be provided as a form of recognition for other contributions of these staff members.
EXCLUDED MANAGEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF
The terms and conditions of employment of this group mirror those of AAPS. We recommend that, based on operational requirements, supervisors of excluded Management & Professional Staff should consider paid “Christmas Leave” as one form of recognition for the contributions of these staff members, including their significant additional hours of work.
SERVICE UNIT DIRECTORS
Employees in this group have usually had their terms and conditions of employment benchmarked against those provided to management and professional staff. They are not covered by the AAPS Agreement however, and the terms of their employment relationship have been the subject matter of negotiation between individual employees and their supervisors. Human Resources recommends that the general guideline of using the paid “Christmas Leave” as one form of recognition for the contributions of these staff members, including their significant additional hours of work.
If you have any questions or would like to review your particular situation, please call Human Resources at 807-8833 or email pauline.brandes@ubc.ca.
