ARTICLE XII

 

Sickness, Disability, and Other Allowed Time
SECTION 1. Employees will be paid full time at their basic rates while off duty because of sickness or accident not covered by Workers' Compensation Act, as follows:
 
CONTINUOUS SERVICE                                       PERIOD
Less than 6 months                                                           None
6 months to 1 year                                                  8 weeks ½ pay*
1 year to 5 years                                                      4 weeks & 4 weeks ½ pay
5 years to 10 years                                                  8 weeks & 4 weeks ½ pay
10 years to 15 years                                               12 weeks
15 years to 20 years                                               16 weeks
20 years to 25 years                                               18 weeks
Over 25 years                                                         26 weeks plus three (3)        
                                                                               additional days for each year
                                                                               of service in excess of 25.
 
*Employee will not receive this until he/she has been out after seven (7) days.
 
Employees will be disciplined as follows for excessive absenteeism not covered under FML guidelines or for hospitalization.
 
 
Hours
Discipline
Period Discipline Remains
40 hours in a rolling 6 month period
Oral Warning
9 months
3 additional absences or 24 hours during the period of the oral warning (9 months)
Written warning
12 months
 
3 additional absences during the period of the written warning (12 months)
 
DML
 
2 years
3 additional absences during the DML period (2 years)
Termination of employment
N/A
 
 
Employees who have completed ten (10) years of continuous service will be entitled to ten (10) additional weeks, in addition to the preceding schedules, for major (long-term) illnesses. To be eligible for this additional time, employees who have received disciplinary action as stated below "A" through "C" must have had such steps withdrawn for a period of two (2) years prior to the major illness.
 
A.         Effective March 1, 1988, the Company will monitor each employee's attendance record and when the record warrants disciplinary action the Company will notify the employee and his/her steward through an oral reminder and such disciplinary step will be in effect for nine (9) months from the date of discipline.
 
B.        The Company will continue to monitor the employee's record thereafter and if no improvement is made, the Company will notify the employee and his/her steward that a written reminder is in effect and will remain in effect for twelve (12) months from the date of discipline.
 
C.        The Company will continue to monitor the employee's record thereafter and if no improvement is made, the Company will notify the employee and his/her steward that a Decision Making Leave will be taken by the employee and this disciplinary step will be in effect for two (2) years from the date of discipline. The 1 (one) day suspension related to the Decision making leave will be unpaid.
 
If the employee fails to improve his/her absence record after the above steps, further disciplinary action, including discharge, may be taken by the Company.
 
The Union has the right to grieve the above disciplinary steps. The supervisor must conduct at least one coaching discussion with the employee about his/her attendance record before Step A is implemented.
 
If payments are made to employees under any laws for sickness or accident, then the difference between such payment and the above schedule will be paid by the Company.
 
Employees who are notified on Monday that they will be scheduled to work overtime on the following Saturday and who prior to Saturday work take off for illness, those hours paid for illness will not accumulate to reach forty (40) hours under Article 3, Section 2 to be paid at the rate of one and one-half (1½) for the work on Saturday. They will be paid at their straight time rate for work performed on that Saturday.
 
An employee who is absent from work because of an injury/illness sustained on the job which would be compensable under the Workers' Compensation Law, shall receive during the contract period, pay in addition to the compensation payments so as to give the employee full pay but not to exceed normal after tax take home pay for a period including any waiting time equal to twice the period of sick leave to which the employee would be entitled and time lost by reason of such illness/injury shall not be charged to the employee's sick leave.
 
Any employee who is on the payroll of the Company for a period of less than six (6) months and is absent from work because of such an illness/injury sustained on the job, shall receive pay, in addition to any compensation payment permitted under the Workers' Compensation Law, so as to give employees full pay but not to exceed normal after tax take home pay during the period of such illness/injury, but such period shall not exceed two (2) weeks in the contract period.
 
Before making any sickness or accident payment, the Company shall have the right, providing the employee has been coached under Positive Discipline about sick time, to require a certificate signed by the attending physician or a Company physician and such other evidence of disability as the Company may deem necessary. The Company shall be required to reimburse the employee for the cost of the
co-payment. An employee who misrepresents his/her condition or cause of same shall be ineligible for the above benefits and may be subject to dismissal.
 
Time off with pay will be given for attendance at weddings, one (1) day. Three (3) days off with pay will be given upon the death of a member of the employee's immediate family. The employee's immediate family is defined as the employee's father, mother, wife, husband, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, step-father, step-mother, child, step-child, brother or sister. One (1) day off with pay will be given upon the death of an employee's aunt, uncle, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, step-brother or step-sister.
 
An employee called upon to be a pall bearer at the funeral of a deceased employee shall be paid one (1) day's pay.
 
SECTION 2.(a) If it is established that an injury or illness is caused by the negligence of a third party and that third party makes settlement with the injured employee, the Company shall be reimbursed for all wage payments made to the injured employee to the extent that such settlement covers the Company's payments made under the terms of this provision
 
(b) In instances where the Company has been so reimbursed, the employee's sick leave allowance shall be reinstated to the extent of the reimbursement.
 
SECTION 3. An employee injured while gainfully employed elsewhere shall not be entitled to sick leave allowance for such period of incapacity.
 
SECTION 4. Any employee inducted into military service who enlists because of imminent induction in any branch of the United States Government as a result of the Selective Service Act shall resume seniority with the Employer when discharged from such service. He shall be paid the maximum vacation pay for the following year, pursuant to the provisions of the Selective Service Act.
 
SECTION 5. The current Corporate Policy on Earned Rest will remain the Company's policy during the term of the agreement. It is the intent of the Policy to allow earned rest for employees who, due to call-out or unscheduled overtime, have not had eight (8) hours off work before reporting for their next regularly scheduled shift. Such employee will receive pay for the hours scheduled but not worked as earned rest time. Scheduled overtime where less than twenty-four (24) hours notice has been given will qualify for earned rest time.