Employee Rights Review- Annual Leave
Some people like to relax and travel while others enjoy completing tasks away from work; No matter what you enjoy doing, it is always healthy to take a break from work. Follow me as we study Article 35 Section 2 of our Master Agreement and review the use of Annual Leave.
In a Nutshell, here is what the article has to say:
Your Annual Leave is for your personal use, you may use it for vacation or personal reasons.
You may request, at the very least, 2 consecutive weeks of AL per year.
Utilizing Annual Leave is your right, however it is managements right to approve when it may be taken, so make sure to have approval prior to purchasing any airline tickets in advanced.
It is best practice to place AL requests with as much time as possible, that way the Agency can evaluate staffing needs with time.
Prior approval of Annual Leave may be cancelled if necessary to meet valid operational needs (Section 2 (F)). If your AL is cancelled, it is important to know that the operational need is actually valid.
If your leave is denied, you may request in writing the reason for the denial. The Agency is responsible to provide a date that you may agree with to reschedule your leave.
If you have an emergent situation or need leave outside the scheduled AL, you may request Unplanned Leave.
Leave is only to be denied for appropriate reasons (inadequate staffing, valid operational needs, ect.). NO leave will be denied as a form of discipline (example: for not completing TMS trainings) Article 35 Section 1 (I).
I reccomend that any time your leave is denied or cancelled to always request the reasons in writing and present it to the Union. The Union can always evaluate this to explore if there is a violation in contract.
Let us know what you think about this article of if you have any other questions regarding it.
Have any other articles you would like for us to review? Let us know so we can cover it on our next post!