Community Health – Scheduling of Hours

15.4 Scheduling of Hours
Regular Employees
(i) Regular employees shall be scheduled hours within their classification based on seniority, subject to the employee’s ability to meet specific client needs and geographic location.
(ii) When assigning hours, regular  employees shall be given priority over casual employees in accordance with the process described in Article 15.4(a) (Scheduling of Hours).
The Employer shall post regular positions, according to the shift schedule options in Article 15.3(b) (Shift Schedules) specifying the days of work, the period of availability and the weekly posted hours.
If a regular employee is below the weekly posted hours of his/her position the Employer shall, as soon as possible, assign hours that can be accommodated considering the employee’s existing assignments, in the following sequence:
from new hours;
from hours assigned to casuals in reverse order of seniority;
within no longer than seven days, from junior regular employees, in reverse order of seniority.
Assignment of Unassigned Hours to Regular Employees
Regular employees who wish to be assigned hours in excess of their weekly posted hours may register under Article 29.3(a) (Call-in Procedure) for unassigned hours. Where unassigned hours are available, the Employer shall offer such unassigned hours to these registered employees   in   accordance   with   Articles   29.3   (a)   and   (d)   (Call-in
Procedure). Where such hours are assigned they may be reassigned to other  regular   employees   eligible   for   such   hours   pursuant   to Article 15.4(a)(3) (Scheduling of Hours).
The provisions of Articles 29.1 (a), (b), (c) and (d) (Casual Employee) shall not apply. All time worked shall be credited to the employee for  the purpose of seniority and benefit accumulation.
Ability to Meet Specific Client Needs
For purposes of this article, an employee’s ability to meet specific client needs shall be determined using the following criteria:
language requirements and gender, where lack of consideration would lead to an adverse effect on the well-being of the client;
continuity of care, where the lack of consideration would lead to an adverse effect on the health of the client;
employee/client compatibility, where the lack of consideration would likely lead to an adverse effect on the health of the client. When a complaint arises, the Employer will investigate the complaint and endeavour to rectify the situation prior to reassigning the employee;
a care need requiring a specific skill. Where a regular employee requires training in order to access a particular assignment for which he/she is otherwise eligible pursuant to Article 15.4(a)(3) (Scheduling of Hours), such training shall be provided to the employee as soon as reasonably practicable.
Where an employee classified as a CHWII is eligible to be assigned hours under Article 15.4(a)(3) (Scheduling of Hours) above and where no such hours are available, the employee may opt to receive CHWI hours or to work reduced hours. Whichever option the employee elects, the employee shall remain entitled to CHWII hours in accordance with Article 15.4 (a)(3) (Scheduling of Hours) above as soon as they become available.
Ongoing hours are defined as non-relief hours which are anticipated to have a duration of three consecutive months or more. Ongoing hours that have not been assigned to a regular employee pursuant to 15.4 (a)(3) (Scheduling of Hours) above shall be considered unassigned. Where there are ongoing hours that are unassigned, and are sufficient to constitute a regular position, and which can be assigned in five hour increments, the Employer shall first:
offer, by seniority, to increase the weekly posted hours of existing regular positions, subject to Article 15.4 (a)1 (Scheduling of Hours). The Employer shall canvass employees whose days of work and period of availability would allow for inclusion of the unassigned hours. Employees shall have the option to accept or decline an increase in their weekly posted hours; then,
where no regular employee opts to accept an increase in their weekly posted hours, the Employer may increase the weekly posted hours of the most junior regular employee(s) whose posted days of work and period of availability would allow for inclusion of the available hours, subject to Article 15.4 (a)(1) (Scheduling of Hours), or post a new regular position in accordance with Article 12 (Job Postings) and (e) below. Where the most junior regular employee'(s) period of availability is less than 10 hours, the period of availability may be increased to accommodate the available hours in accordance with Article 15.3 (Shift Schedules).
When an employee’s weekly hours are increased pursuant to this clause the Employer shall provide the employee with written confirmation of the increased hours.
Unassigned ongoing hours shall be deemed sufficient to constitute a regular position where 20 or more such hours can be scheduled within the following parameters:
up to five consecutive days of work; and
definable period of availability as per Article 15.3(b) (Shift Schedules);
geographic location.
When there are sufficient unassigned ongoing hours to constitute a regular position the Employer shall post a regular position pursuant to Article 12 (Job Postings).
Regular employees may refuse hours only if the hours are in excess of their weekly posted hours, subject to Article 15.4(d) (Scheduling of Hours) or outside their period of availability referred to in Article 15.4(a)(2) (Scheduling of Hours).
The Employer shall make every reasonable effort to minimize or eliminate the number of splits (and minimize the duration of such splits) in an employee’s daily schedule, exclusive of meal periods, subject to time specific service requirements and travel time.
The Employer may contact regular employees outside of their period of availability only for scheduling purposes.
Regular employees contacted outside their period of availability for reasons other than those described in (h) above shall be paid at straight-time rates for the duration of the call, with a minimum of 15 minutes per call.
Assigned schedules shall include adequate time to complete any client reports requested by the Employer.
Employees will not be required to access the Employer’s voice mail scheduling system more than once per scheduled day of work, and in any event, not on a scheduled off-duty day.
Casual Employees – Hours shall be assigned to casual employees pursuant to Article 29 (Casual Employees) based on seniority, subject to the employee’s availability, ability to meet specific client needs, skill and ability required for the specific assignment and geographic location.

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