ARTICLE 20 - ANNUAL VACATIONS

 

VACATION

Article 20

20.01    - Calculation of Service

20.02    - Annual Vacation Entitlement

20.03    - Scheduled Vacations

20.04    - Vacation Carry Over

20.05    - Sick or Bereavement Leave during Vacation

20.06    - Vacation Pay

20.07    - Vacation Schedules (Seven Day Operations)

20.08    - Vacation Schedules (Five Day Operations)

20.09    - New Regular Employees

20.01 - Calculation of Service

Seniority for the purposes of calculating an employee’s annual vacation entitlement means service seniority per clause 10.03;

20.02 - Annual Vacation Entitlement

(a)        A regular employee who has earned ten days’ pay per month shall have an annual vacation entitlement as follows:

(b)        The scheduling and taking of vacation (except as provided in clause 20.07) shall be on a calendar year basis. The calendar year and vacation year shall coincide. The amount of vacation to be scheduled in a calendar year shall be the entitlement for the service year which is completed during the calendar year.

(c)        The calendar year in which an employee’s first anniversary falls shall be the first vacation year. For the purposes of additional leave entitlement, the calendar year in which the fifth anniversary falls shall be the fifth vacation year, in which the sixth anniversary falls the sixth vacation year; etc.

20.03 - Scheduled Vacations

(a)        Vacation schedules, once approved by the Company, shall not be changed, except by mutual agreement between the employee and the Company.

(b)        Employees who have commenced their annual vacation shall not be called back to work.

20.04 - Vacation Carry Over

An employee may carry over up to seven days’ vacation leave per vacation year for two consecutive vacation years, to a maximum of 14 days, which must be taken not later than the third consecutive vacation year.

20.05 - Sick or Bereavement Leave during Vacation

When an employee is qualified for sick leave (and supplies sufficient proof of illness), or bereavement leave during his/her vacation period, there shall be no deduction from the vacation credits for such leave. The period of vacation so displaced shall be taken at a mutually agreed time.

20.06 - Vacation Pay

(a)        Payment for vacations shall be made at an employee’s regular pay, except if the employee has been working in a higher-paid position than his/her regular position for the majority of his/her regular scheduled work days within the 90 calendar days immediately preceding his/her vacation, in which case s/he shall receive the higher rate.

(b)        When a pay day falls during a regular employee's vacation, the employee shall be entitled to have the cheque forwarded to a mailing address supplied by the employee in writing.

(c)        Once per calendar year, upon thirty (30) days’ written notice, a regular employee shall be entitled to receive, prior to commencement of a vacation, a payroll advance equivalent to the regular pay of the employee for the duration of the vacation period to be taken.

20.07 - Vacation Schedules (Seven Day Operations)

(a)        The four blocks of vacation scheduling system (all dates inclusive) shall be:

1.      February to April

2.      May to July

3.      August to October

4.      November to January

(b)        A list containing the names of employees allocated to each block shall be posted on November 1 before each vacation year.

(c)        Service seniority shall determine preference for vacation periods among employees in a block.

(d)        An employee who does not exercise his/her seniority rights by November 30 shall have a maximum of 15 days of his/her vacation scheduled by the Company.

(e)        The Company shall confirm that the employee is entitled to his/her selected vacation time within 60 days of November 30. For employees under Block 1, vacation shall be confirmed by December 31.

(f)         Employees who are in Blocks 2 and 3 shall be limited to a maximum of 15 days vacation in the period June 1st to September 30 in every year unless the Company otherwise agrees.

(g)        An employee transferred by the Company shall maintain his/her vacation period, providing no other employee's vacation choice is affected by the transfer.

(h)        An employee who voluntarily transfers to another point of assembly or work unit after the vacation schedule has been completed shall not be entitled to exercise his/her seniority right for that vacation year only; however, every effort shall be made to grant vacation at the time of the employee's choice.

(i)         The blocks shall be rotated in order to ensure an alternate cycling of summer and winter vacation periods. The order of rotation shall be Block 1, Block 3, Block 4, Block 2.

(j)         An employee shall be entitled to split his/her vacation into two parts within his/her vacation block. Employees wishing to split their vacation shall exercise seniority rights in the choice of a first vacation period. Seniority shall prevail in the choice of the remaining period, but only after all other first vacation periods have been posted.

(k)        An employee shall be permitted to exchange his/her vacation block, either permanently or for one year, with another employee from the same point of assembly and classification by notifying the designated Company representative by October 15.

20.08 - Vacation Schedules (Five Day Operations)

(a)        Vacation schedules shall be posted within each work unit at mutually agreed times.

(b)        An employee who does not exercise his/her seniority rights within two weeks of receiving the vacation schedule shall not be entitled to exercise those rights with respect to any vacation time previously selected by an employee with less seniority.

(c)        Vacations shall be granted on the basis of service seniority within a classification series within each work unit. An employee shall be entitled to receive his/her vacation in an unbroken period. Employees wishing to split their vacation shall exercise seniority rights in the choice of the first vacation period. Seniority shall prevail in the choice of subsequent periods, but only after all other first vacation periods have been posted.

(d)        Employees shall be entitled to their vacation at any time during the year, subject to (c) above.

(e)        Where practical, all employees covered by this clause shall be entitled to schedule a minimum of three weeks' vacation during the months of June, July, August and September.

(f)         The following seven day operation groups shall also be covered by this clause for the purpose of vacation scheduling:

1.      Clerical Staff;

2.      Stockpersons;

3.      Building Service Workers.

20.09 - New Regular Employees

(a)        During the first partial year of service, a new regular employee shall be entitled to take any earned vacation prior to December 31.

(b)        If there is insufficient time for new regular employees to take vacation during their first partial year of service, they shall exhaust those vacation credits by December 1st of their first full year of service.