Time accrual schedules Up to 5 years of Service* >= 5 Years of Service >= 15 Years of Service Accrue 150 Hours Annually Accrue 187.5 Hours Annually Accrue 225 Hours Annually Equals 20 “7.5 hr” shifts/yr Equals 25 “7.5 hr” shifts/yr Equals 30 “7.5 hr” shifts/yr Equals 13 “11.5 hr” shifts/yr Equals 16 “11.5 hr” shifts/yr Equals 19 “11.5 hr” shifts/yr You accrue: 5.8 hrs/pay pd. You accrue: 7.2 hrs/pay pd You accrue: 8.7 hrs/pay pd * A nurse with >= 6 months seniority but < 1 year seniority is entitled to 75 hours vacation. Annual Holiday Accrual Month Hrs Accrued January   15 hours February   7.5 hours May   7.5 hours July   7.5 hours September   7.5 hours November   7.5 hours December   7.5 hours 60 Hours Total Equals 8 "7.5" hour shifts OR Equals 5.2 "11.5" hour shifts Annual Free Day Accrual Month Hrs Accrued February 15   7.5 hours May 15   7.5 hours August 15   7.5 hours November 15   7.5 hours 30 Hours Total Equals 4 "7.5" hour shifts OR Equals 2.6 "11.5" hour shifts Requesting a Holiday As you know, the contract language regarding holidays is as follows: Requests for the summer holidays (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day) will be granted by seniority, however, each nurse who so requests shall have at least one (1) of the three (3) summer holidays off, provided that each Employee who works Thanksgiving shall have at least two (2) of the summer holidays off. Requests for the summer holiday(s) shall be made from February 1 to February 16, and approval shall be by February 23. The Employer shall post a list on each unit during this request period. Employees working Thanksgiving shall indicate one (1) of the three (3) summer holidays they will work; Employees not working Thanksgiving shall indicate two (2) of the three (3) summer holidays they will work. Any Employee may switch a holiday off, or portion thereof, with any other Employee on the unit. Extra shifts off will be equitably distributed among Employees on the basis of seniority and shall not change the Employees' rotation of holidays. Such extra shifts shall be made available when the time block is created. (Article XV, section 3(a)) All nurses, regardless of seniority, should put in their request for two holidays to work if they are off on Thanksgiving or one holiday to work if they are working Thanksgiving. The holidays are granted off according to seniority. So, for instance, if your unit requires six (6) nurses to work on any given holiday, and six nurses with more seniority to you have requested to work July 4th, then as the seventh (7th) most senior nurse on the unit, you will not be granted July 4th to work. You must choose from the rest of the holidays to request to work. Continuing with the example given above, as the seventh (7th) most senior nurse on the unit, if you have requested to work Labor day and six other nurses signed up to work Labor Day and one of the six other nurses on the Labor Day list is junior to you, then you will be approved to work Labor Day and the nurse junior to you will have to choose from the rest of the holidays to put her/his name. Because holidays are granted by seniority and not on a "first come, first serve" basis, nor on a ranked basis, a nurse should check the holiday request form right before it is submitted for approval to make sure that not too many nurses with more seniority have signed up for the same holiday to work. You are required to schedule yourself to work two holidays, including Thanksgiving. If you keep your name on the list for a specific holiday that has six nurses with more seniority to you on it, you will be bumped from that holiday and be scheduled to work on the holiday that you are needed. You will not necessarily be granted the holiday you would have chosen as a second choice. The Head Nurse is under no obligation to ask you to choose from the remaining holidays, presuming you were bumped out of another holiday. If, before the holiday request form is submitted for final approval, you had removed your name from the holiday that you wouldn't have been approved for, and instead, put your name on the list for a holiday that your seniority would have ensured, then you maintain more control over your holiday schedule. After the request period is over and the requests have been approved, a senior nurse can not "bump" a junior nurse out of a holiday that the junior nurse has been approved for. Not every scenario can be addressed in this memo, so please feel free to discuss your situation with a delegate if you feel a contract violation has occurred. If a junior nurse is approved for a holiday over a more senior nurse who had made the request during the request period, then a contract violation most likely occurred. All concerns and questions that union members bring to the union's attention are investigated. A grievance will be filed if the contract was violated. Hopefully, this information is helpful when thinking about the holiday request process. As always, feel free to call the union and/or speak with a delegate for this or any other workplace issue. Emergency Day Otherwise known as a "k day" In Article XV, section 4, the Emergency Day is defined. It may also be referred to as a "K day" because that is the code the hospital uses to define the day in their records. All NYPNU nurses can use one (1) Emergency Day per calendar year. The time comes from your "free hours bank." A nurse accrues thirty (30) free hours per year. Why an Emergency Day? Most days that a nurse takes off are planned and prescheduled. However, as the name indicates, when emergencies arise, there is no way a nurse could schedule months in advance for the pipes in her house breaking or her car breaking down or her child getting sick. For these unpredictable times, a nurse can call the Nursing Office and claim an Emergency Day. An Emergency day is scheduled with little notice. However, little notice does not mean no notice. A nurse must notify her/his supervisor that she/he is taking an Emergency Day at least two (2) hours before the start of her/his regularly scheduled workday. A nurse won't lose any time if she/he doesn't use an Emergency Day for the year. Remember that the time comes from your free hours. You can always schedule free hours throughout the year. An Emergency Day cannot be used on the following holidays: New Year's Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day President's Day Easter Memorial Day Mother's Day Independence Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Christmas Leave of Absence WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IF YOU ARE ON A LEAVE OF ABSENCE: Leave of Absence Process Inform the Union Maternity Leave Family & Medical Leave Act Voluntary Leave of Absence (1) Leave of Absence Process You need to submit an Application for Leave of Absence when you are unable to work for more than 7 consecutive calendar days. STEP 1: a. Inform your Nurse Manager that you need an LOA b. Most RNs should contact Monica Merchan at ext. 5402; if you are in the OR, RR, or ASC, you should contact Milada Sleiman at ext. 3138. STEP 2: Pick up LOA forms in the Human Resources Department at Lexington Ave. and 78th St. above the Kinko's. STEP 3: Contact Andrea Glover-Henry at ext. 2826 to schedule an appointment to review the LOA process and submit forms. STEP 4: If your LOA extends beyond one month, you must submit updated medical documentation to Andrea Glover-Henry on a monthly basis. STEP 5: If you are unable to return to work on your scheduled return to work date, contact Andrea Glover-Henry no later than two weeks prior to your return to work date and submit an application for an extension of LOA. STEP 6: In order to return to work, you must be cleared by your physician and Occupational Health. (2) Inform the Union. LHH/MEETH sends NYPNU a monthly list of members, who are on leaves of absence, but the list is not entirely accurate, and we are often not informed when nurses return to work. Please call or email the Union office when you have a change in status. (3) Maternity Leave: Pregnant nurses will be eligible for up to nine (9) months leave or the length of physical disability, whichever is greater. Nurses exposed to radiation who desire to take a maternity leave prior to the sixth month of pregnancy will be granted maternity leave for a period of twelve (12) months or the length of the disability, whichever is greater. A maternity leave is broken down into two categories: the disability (involuntary) portion and the non-physical disability (voluntary) portion. The length of the disability portion of the leave is determined by the specific nurse's situation and her doctor. Most disabilities are typically 8 - 12 weeks long. Many nurses want additional time off to be with their newborn and make childcare arrangements for when they're back to work. This time off is still considered maternity leave, but it is defined as the "non-physical disability" or "voluntary" portion of maternity leave. Whatever sick leave hours the nurse has accrued shall be used while out on the disability portion of the maternity leave. Sick leave may not be used for any non-physical portion of maternity leave. Coming back to work from a maternity leave: You are guaranteed a job after your maternity leave. Your leave can be, as mentioned above, as long as 9 months, or in some cases, a year. The average nurse seems to take 4 - 6 months off. Your specific position on your specific unit must be reserved for you for as long as you are out on the disability portion of your leave, whether your disability happens to be nine (9) months, three (3) months or any other amount of time. When a nurse returns to work following a voluntary leave of absence, including the non-physical disability portion of a maternity leave, she will be reinstated to her former job or another position within the same classification. Keep in contact with your Nurse Manager on a routine basis (once every couple of weeks is sufficient). Specifically ask your Head Nurse if your position is going to be posted. If so, immediately contact the Union office and we'll go over your options and discuss the matter with the hospital. If your position is posted, it might mean you would have to return to work on a different unit. Please review the contract language surrounding maternity leave: Article XIX, section 1 & 5. (4) The Family & Medical Leave Act: The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law, which took effect in 1993. A whole book could be written about FMLA (and in fact, many have been). Bottom line, if you think that you might qualify for FMLA leave, call the Union. There is a lot about FMLA leave that most people don't know. You could be denied your rights if you don't consult the Union. Here are a few of the basics: You are eligible for FMLA leave if you have worked at least 1,250 hours for LHH in the previous twelve months. You may take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid FMLA leave for: i. A serious health condition that makes you unable to perform your job; ii. To care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent (The NYPNU contract extends this provision to domestic partners.); iii. For childbirth or to take care for a newborn child up to age one; iv. For the placement of a child with you for adoption or foster care. Your 12 weeks of leave may be taken all at once or at different times for different reasons. Under Department of Labor regulations, a serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves the following: i. Inpatient hospital care; ii. An injury, illness, or other condition lasting more than three consecutive calendar days that involves continuing treatment by a health care provider; iii. Pregnancy; iv. A chronic serious health condition; v. A long-term or permanently disabling health condition; vi. A condition requiring multiple treatments to prevent a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days (i.e., physical therapy, chemotherapy, dialysis, etc.). If you qualify for FMLA leave, it cannot be denied-not for any reason. Absences due to serious health conditions may be protected even if they are as short as one day or part of a day. "Protected" means that you can't be disciplined for taking FMLA time. For instance, if you have a chronic back condition, or suffer from migraines or asthma, you might have to use one FMLA day in January, 3 days in April, 1 day in July and 6 days in November. If you had previously applied for an intermittent FMLA leave, the Hospital cannot count any of these FMLA days against you for the purposes of discipline. Any and all shifts that you don't work due to FMLA leave cannot be counted against you for the purposes of discipline. As mentioned before, there is a lot to the Family & Medical Leave Act. Do not make any assumptions about it. Please call the Union to discuss your specific situation. (5) Voluntary Leave of Absence: Many nurses call the Union asking if it is possible to take some time off. This could be for any number of personal reasons. The contract states the following: "Leaves of absence without pay for other reasons (other than maternity, military or union business) will not be unreasonably denied by the Employer." The reality is that we are in the midst of a nursing shortage. To temporarily replace a nurse costs the Hospital a lot of money and finding a replacement is fairly difficult. Most leaves of absence other than for maternity leave or for Family & Medical Leave (explained above) are difficult to grant. However, there is no harm in trying. If you need to take a leave of absence, particularly if it's for a short period of time, consult your Nurse Manager about the possibilities. If your manager says no, ask the reasons why. See if you can work out an alternative and consult the Union. Jury Duty Advice At some point during your career as a nurse, you will probably be called for jury duty. Until recently, nurses, doctors, lawyers and the like were typically dismissed from jury duty because of the nature of their work. That is no longer the case. Almost no one can get out of jury duty anymore, regardless of his or her work or home situation. You can delay jury duty, but you cannot avoid it completely. NYPNU's Advice on Jury Duty 1. Jury duty rules and regulations are going through a lot of transformations. The rules that you followed just a few years ago may not be the same now. Read the jury notices carefully and don't assume anything. Jury duty procedure is also not uniform. What your friend had to do in Nassau County can be vastly different from the jury duty procedure in Manhattan or Westchester. 2. When you receive your first jury duty notice you do have the right to postpone the duty. For example, on June 1st you receive a notice to call-in to see if you need to serve as a juror on June 20th. You know you have vacation from June 23rd - June 29th. It would be a very good idea to fill out the paperwork to postpone your jury duty. If you're called to serve as a juror, you might very well have a case that lasts several days or longer - which could intrude on your vacation. Better to play it safe and postpone. You'll probably get another notice in a month or two when you have no vacation days planned. 3. You only can postpone once, maybe twice, so make it count. If you receive a jury notice on June 1st and are ordered to call-in to find out if you need to come in to court and serve as a juror on or around June 20th, and you have no vacation plans anytime in June or early July, then it would be best to do the jury duty and NOT postpone it. When you postpone jury duty you are dealing with the unknown. They might send you a notice in 4 weeks, or 8 weeks or 19 weeks. You can't predict when the notice will come, but you can count on them sending a notice at some point. The second jury notice might interfere with future plans that you have made. Do not postpone jury duty merely to avoid the inevitable. You might discover that what could have been a minor inconvenience in June is a horrible conflict in November when you had plans to visit your family in California (for example). And certainly do not postpone jury duty because your manager tells you to! 4. The Hospital will pay for a "jury duty day" ONLY if you are scheduled to work on the day you are scheduled for jury duty. Read that last sentence again - it's important. If you are scheduled to work on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and you have jury duty on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - then you will work at the hospital for three days and then go to jury duty for 3 days. The hospital won't reimburse you for anything. Jury duty will be considered your "civic duty" and you will be expected to work at the hospital regardless of the fact that you will be working (3 days at the hospital as a nurse, 3 days at the court as a juror) 6 days straight. Unfortunately, this isn't about contract language, it's about the law, which we are trying to change, but for now, this is what we have to deal with. 5. To be paid, you must coordinate jury duty on the same days you are scheduled to work. a. First and foremost, avoid working the weekends right before and after jury duty (this doesn't always apply to night shift nurses). Switch with someone if you have to. Most jury duty lasts for 3-4 days. But if you get assigned a trial, you might have jury duty for a week or more. If that happens and you are scheduled to work a weekend then you will be going to jury duty on the weekdays and reporting to work at the hospital on the weekend(s). You will not be excused from your hospital duty. b. Schedule your shifts at the same time as your jury duty so that you are paid. If you report to jury duty on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and had scheduled yourself to work at the hospital on that same Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then you will be paid your regular salary and you will be excused from work at the hospital. This is the best case scenario. c. If you're a night shift nurse, plan your work schedule the same way. The hospital will release night shift nurses from their duty if they had jury duty before their shift or after their shift. However, if you are supposed to work on Saturday night through Sunday morning, and you have jury duty on Monday, then you will have to go to work. And then report to jury duty on Monday. 6. Do not plan on dealing with how jury duty is going to fit with your work schedule a day or two before you actually report to jury duty. You must plan your work schedule as early as possible. With proper strategy and forethought, you will probably be paid for jury duty and not have to go to the hospital to work. As with anything and everything related to work, call or email the NYPNU office if you have questions about jury duty. © 2004 New York Professional Nurses Union Ph: 212.988.5565 1104 Lexington Ave #2D New York, NY 10021 nypnu@nypnu.org Home | About NYPNU | Your Rights At Work | Political Action | Members Only | Have Fun