It has come to our attention that CRA is not crediting employees for their vacation or sick leave earned while on LIA. This is occurring in spite of the fact that our AFS collective agreement provides for the earning of vacation and sick leave while on LIA.
To earn sick leave in a given month, an employee must “receive pay for at least seventy-five (75) hours.” Similarly, to earn the vacation leave accumulation, an employee must “receive pay on at least ten (10) days or seventy-five (75) hours.” Employees do receive pay while on LIA.
After this concern was brought to the attention of AFS Stewards, we followed up with management who indicated that this was just a system error and would be fixed. Unfortunately, management recently changed their position and told us that this earned leave time would not be credited.
A number of individual grievances have already been filed by those impacted with the support and assistance of AFS Stewards. Typical wording is simply that the employee grieves that the employer failed to credit them with vacation and sick leave for specific month(s) while on LIA. The requested remedy is that the employee be credited for sick leave and vacation for those month(s) while on LIA. Complete wording can be obtained from an AFS Steward.
Many of our AFS members have recently taken LIA or will be taking LIA over the upcoming months. If you are in this situation, then we recommend that you check your leave balances following your period of LIA. If you are not credited your sick leave or vacation while on LIA, you may wish to contact an AFS steward who will provide assistance. Grievances must be filed within 25 business days of the employee becoming aware of the situation.
Doug Mason
AFS President
On behalf of the AFS Executive