COVID-19 Agreement Reached
As our earlier updates have mentioned, AFSCME Local 328 has been working with OHSU on negotiating a letter of agreement to cover a variety of COVID-19 situations. We are pleased to announce that we reached agreement and the LOA was approved by the Local 328 executive board on Friday, March 20.
A copy of the LOA can be viewed here. Please read the full text of the document for details. Some highlights include:
Temporary expanded telework options, including a review process if an employee’s request to telecommute is denied — most reviews will occur within 48 hours and a union designee will be one of the reviewers.
Review of vacation-accrual caps — the VAC balance of employees in active work status between March 13 and June 30 will be reviewed and additional VAC hours will be added to the banks of employees who reached their accrual cap during this period.
Temporary moratorium on discipline for sick time for coronavirus illness or coronavirus-like symptoms.
Temporary moratorium on discipline for absences or tardiness due to circumstances beyond employee control (e.g., school closures, public-transportation shutdowns, delayed tram operations).
Paid administrative leave for the quarantine period for coronavirus exposure, when telework isn’t an option.
Protections for employees who are unable to use FMLA/OFLA — employees who don’t qualify for or who have exhausted FMLA/OFLA leave, and for whom the 14 days of extended leave does not satisfy their circumstances due to coronavirus-related illness, will not be issued occurrences or disciplinary action for these absences.
Reasonable notice for staff redeployment — during the COVID-19 response, OHSU may modify work schedules and assignments, but must provide reasonable notice to affected employees.
A common question from employees has been about the options for immunocompromised employees. While this isn’t in the purview of our LOA, OHSU has addressed this in its most recent COVID-19 update on OHSU Now — scroll down to the “guidance and resources for employees who may be at greater risk…” section.
Our union recognizes that this is a time of economic uncertainty and that the COVID-19 situation won’t be resolved in a few weeks or even, most likely, a few months. During bargaining in 2019, we published some tips on how to prepare for going without pay during a strike. While a strike isn’t looming, the tips in the post are pertinent today.
Please let us know in the comments if you have any questions or concerns.