FAQs - June 17, 2020: Vacation Scheduling in 2020

Was an agreement reached on how to manage excessive vacation credits accrued during the pandemic?

Yes. CSSEA and the Bargaining Association of Unions reached an agreement on how employers and employees may manage unused credits in 2020 due to vacation scheduling challenges arising from COVID-19. Access a copy of the Letter of Understanding here.

What led to this agreement?

Since the order of the Solicitor General in March 2020 under the Emergency Program Act deemed workers in the community social services sector to be essential, many employers withheld approval of vacation (or even cancelled vacations that were approved) in an effort ensure that services could continue to be delivered. At the same time, some employers were still able to grant vacation requests based on their assessment of service needs. Most employers now appear ready to lift any suspensions on approving vacations as the staffing challenges arising from the pandemic are better known. However, due to the suspensions, vacation credits may have accrued to unusually high levels and created significant liabilities, and some employees may have been prevented from taking sufficient vacation time to rejuvenate.

As a result, the bargaining agents (CSSEA and CSSBA) have agreed to support flexibility in the management of these credits, and agreed that certain principles could apply, on a without prejudice basis, until December 31, 2020. These guiding principles allow for a menu of possible options that do not strictly follow the terms of the vacation provisions under Article 18. They are intended to enable employees and employers to reach their own agreements on how to utilize accrued vacation credits in the remainder of this calendar year within prescribed parameters and in ways that work for both of them.

Are employers and employees required to agree to variances of Article 18?

No. There is no requirement for either employers or employees to agree to depart from the full and usual application of Article 18. The variance options outlined are strictly voluntary. As mentioned, some employers continued to apply Article 18 since March. Others have not, but are not experiencing any significant challenges in applying Article 18 going forward. Only if both employers and individual employees wish to address excessive vacation accumulation challenges that arose due to the pandemic, may they consider one or more of the menu of options available to them under the agreement.

To the extent that the agreement does not expressly provide a variance to Article 18, Article 18 continues to apply.

What are the options available?

The options are as follows:

1. Vacation Payouts – payouts must be initiated by an employee. Minimum vacation days (3 weeks) need not have already been taken but best efforts should be made to take this minimum amount of time off to allow for rest and rejuvenation.
2. Distribution of Prime Time Vacation - it may be challenging to schedule vacation for all employees in the remaining months of 2020, never mind the prime time period between now and October 15 (see Article 18.12). Seniority will continue to apply in the granting of requests (as per article 18.2) but some longer blocks of vacation time may need to be restricted to allow for more employees to take time off in prime time and the remainder of 2020.
3. Vacation Carryover – even after scheduling options and payout options are exhausted, there may still be vacation unscheduled by the end of 2020. All unused vacation can be carried over into 2021 or beyond even if employees and employers are unable to stay within the 10 day carryover cap of Article 18.4(a).

What is the process for agreeing to vacation variances?

This bulletin and the agreement may be posted for your employees to view and consider if an employer wishes to explore variances to Article 18. Following conversations between managers and employees, decisions may be made on one or more of the specific variances set out – no other agreements are authorized by the bargaining agents. If an agreement is reached, the agreement remains tentative pending the conclusion of the following process:

1. The employer confirms the agreement in writing to the employee(s) and copies the union representing the employee(s). This can be recorded in an email.
2. The union representative must respond in writing to the employer within 14 calendar days identifying specific concerns, if any, in the implementation of the agreement reached.
3. If specific implementation concerns are not received by the employer within 14 calendar days, the variances are deemed agreed upon and final.
4. If implementation issues are identified, the variances are deemed agreed upon and final upon resolution of the issues by the union representative and the employer.

When does the agreement between CSSEA and the CSSBA expire?

The agreement, and thus any local arrangements, are enabled only for the remainder of 2020 to address excessive accumulation of vacation credits since March 2020. Vacation credits carried over into future years will be honoured.

What if we did not approve of any vacation requests following the March 1 deadline found in Article 18.5?

Employers who did not approve of any vacation requests following the March 1 deadline should allow for all regular status employees to re-submit their vacation requests by a new deadline. The new deadline should be as soon as possible, with every reasonable effort made to establish a new deadline by no later than July 7, 2020. Seniority will continue to apply in the approval process for vacation requests. Employees with vacation time that had already been approved will not have their vacation displaced as a result of the new requests.

What if we did approve of some vacation requests following the March 1 deadline found in Article 18.5?

Where employers did approve of some (or any) vacations following the March 1 deadline, only the employees who were denied their vacation requests will re-submit their vacation requests by a new deadline. As mentioned above, the new deadline should be as soon as possible, with every reasonable effort being made to establish a new deadline by no later than July 7, 2020. Seniority will continue to apply in the approval process for vacation requests, as usual. Employees with vacation time that had already been approved will not have their vacation displaced as a result of the new requests.

What if we need to cancel approved vacations later this year due to COVID-19 related staffing challenges? What is the process?

This may be done under Article 18.6. If so, the bargaining agents agreed that employers must email employees about cancelled vacations in cases of emergency or if done by mutual agreement, and that those emails would be copied to the union representative. Vacation time that was approved, and then cancelled from March 1 onwards, will be rescheduled in priority to other employee vacation requests that have not yet been approved, and on the basis of seniority within each program/worksite (as per Article 18.2(a)). Employees with vacation time already approved will not have their vacation displaced as a result of rescheduling cancelled vacation regardless of employees’ seniority.

Should you have any additional questions, please contact your Consultant/Advocate.