Employee Relations Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is involved in any labor dispute nor, to the knowledge of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, is any such dispute threatened. None of the Company's or its subsidiaries' employees is a member of a union and the Company and its subsidiaries believe that their relations with their employees are good.
Labor and Employee Relations As of the date hereof, except as disclosed in Section 4.11(a) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule hereto or in the PSNC SEC Reports, (i) neither PSNC nor any of the PSNC Subsidiaries is a party to any collective bargaining agreement or other labor agreement with any union or labor organization and (ii) to the best knowledge of PSNC, there is no current union representation question involving employees of PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries, nor does PSNC know of any activity or proceeding of any labor organization (or representative thereof) or employee group to organize any such employees. PSNC has delivered or otherwise made available to SCANA true, correct and complete copies of the collective bargaining agreements listed in Section 4.11(a) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule, together with all amendments, modifications or supplements thereto. Except as disclosed in Section 4.11(b) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule hereto or in the PSNC SEC Reports filed prior to the date hereof or except to the extent such could not reasonably be expected to have a PSNC Material Adverse Effect, (a) there is no unfair labor practice, employment discrimination or other written grievance, arbitration, claim, suit, action or proceeding against PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries pending, or to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened before any court, governmental department, commission agency, instrumentality or authority or any arbitrator, (b) there is no strike, lockout or material dispute, slowdown or work stoppage pending or, to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened against or involving PSNC, and (c) there is no proceeding, claim, suit, action or governmental investigation pending or, to the best knowledge of PSNC, threatened in respect of which any director, officer, employee or agent of PSNC or any of the PSNC Subsidiaries is or may be entitled to claim indemnification from PSNC or such PSNC Subsidiary pursuant to their respective charters or by-laws or as provided in the indemnification agreements listed in Section 4.11(c) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule. Except as set forth in Section 4.11(d) of the PSNC Disclosure Schedule, to the knowledge of PSNC, PSNC and the PSNC Subsidiaries are in material compliance with all federal, state and local laws with respect to employment practices, labor relations, safety and health regulations and mass layoffs and plant closings.
Employee Release 19.1 Employees with 5 years continuous service with the current employer may apply for a one-off continuous period of unpaid Employee Release for a period of three months up to a maximum of twelve months. Such application shall be considered on a case-by-case basis and granted at the discretion of the employer. All service related provisions/ benefits will be put on hold until resumption of normal duties.
19.2 The notification of the employee’s intent to return to normal duties will be the same as Clause 15.7 (Parental Leave).
19.3 Job protection provisions will be the same as in Clause 15.9.1
19.4 The provisions of this clause are separate from and in addition to normal unpaid leave provisions and it is acknowledged that employees may apply for unpaid leave at any time during their employment.
EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES 1. The University shall recognize UPTE designated employee representatives who are members of the bargaining unit. The function of the UPTE designated employee representative shall be to inform employees of their rights under this Agreement, to ascertain that the terms and conditions of this Agreement are being observed, and to investigate and assist in the processing of grievances.
2. For the purposes of receiving paid release time as provided in this section, UPTE may designate four (4) unit employees as "UPTE designated employee representatives" at each campus/hospital/LBNL. Additionally, in the event a campus/hospital/LBNL has more than two-hundred (200) employees, UPTE may designate one (1) additional UPTE-designated employee representative for each additional one hundred (100) bargaining unit members thereafter, up to a maximum of seven (7) UPTE designated employee representatives. UPTE shall not designate more than one (1) UPTE designated employee representative per department of 100 employees or less. For each additional one-hundred (100) employees, or fraction thereof, in a department UPTE shall be allowed one (1) additional representative in that department.
a. The total cumulative use of paid release time for the UPTE designated employee representative shall be limited to ten (10) hours in any one (1) month. University-convened meetings pursuant to Article 10 - Grievance Procedure, shall not be deducted from this block of time.
b. The use of the maximum of ten (10) hours shall be for health and safety or grievance-related activities such as:
1) Review and discussion with employees and management regarding health and safety issues;
2) the initial hand-delivered filing of a grievance and the retrieval of University documents provided pursuant to a written request for information related to a grievance;
3) one-on-one meetings with a grievant concerning a filed grievance, or an alleged violation of this Agreement which is at the Informal Review stage of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
4) meetings with the University representative to whom written grievances are presented or to whom documents related to filed grievance(s) are presented/signed or with whom time limit agreements are achieved;
5) Informal Review meetings held pursuant to Section E. of Article 10 - Grievance Procedure;
c. A request for release time will be made to the UPTE designated employee representative's supervisor prior to the activity. Such approval shall be granted solely on the basis of operational needs and shall not be denied unreasonably.
d. At its sole discretion, the University may authorize use of release time for more than ten (10) hours in a month per department. The exercise of this discretion and/or the enforcement by the University of the ten (10) hour maximum shall under no circumstances establish a precedent for the UPTE designated employee representative or department involved nor shall the allowance of greater than ten (10) hours in a month for an UPTE designated employee representative have any effect or bearing on the ability of the University to enforce the ten (10) hour maximum on any other UPTE designated employee representative.
e. Should a question of possible abuse of these release time provisions arise, the University will so notify UPTE, and the parties will attempt to resolve the matter. If a question remains, the University may take corrective action when warranted.
f. In the event that release time granted under Section C.2.a. above is not sufficient for the representative’s duties and additional time is not granted under Section C.2.d. above, the employee representative may elect to use vacation time in accordance with Article 43 - Vacation, or leave in accordance with Article 17 - Leaves for Union Business.
Employees on Long Term Supply Assignments Employees completing long term supply assignments may only access sick leave and short term disability leave in the fiscal year in which the allocation was provided. Any remaining allocation may be used in subsequent long term supply assignments, provided these occur within the same fiscal year. Employees employed in a Long Term Supply Assignment which is less than the ordinary period of employment for the position shall have their sick leave and short term disability allocations pro-rated accordingly. Where the length of the long term supply assignment is not known in advance, a projected length must be determined at the start of the assignment in order for the appropriate allocation of sick leave/short term disability leave to occur. If a change is made to the length of the assignment, an adjustment will be made to the allocation and applied retroactively.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS 19.1 The public has a right to expect efficient, fair, and impartial law enforcement. Therefore, any alleged misconduct by an employee of the UWPD must be thoroughly investigated to assure the maintenance of these qualities. Employees, too, must be protected against false allegations of misconduct and have the assurance that internal investigations will be conducted in a manner conducive to good order and discipline.
19.2 Every employee who is the subject of an internal affairs investigation or who is interviewed relating to a matter that could lead to discipline (dismissal, demotion, suspension without pay, reduction in pay, written reprimand, or verbal reprimand) of him/her shall be entitled to be represented by a designated Union representative of his/her choice. The employee to be interviewed shall be afforded reasonable time prior to the interview to consult with the Union representative.
19.3 Every employee who becomes the subject of an internal investigation shall be advised at the time of the interview who is in charge of the investigation and who will be conducting the interview.
19.4 The investigator shall apprise the employee of the complaint made against him/her, and allow the employee to read the allegations contained in the complaint. A sanitized copy of the complaint may be provided to the employee and the Union, upon request.
19.5 The interview of any employee shall be at a reasonable hour, preferably when the employee is on duty, unless the exigency of the interview dictates otherwise. Whenever possible, interviews will be scheduled during the normal workday of the employee.
19.6 The employee or the Employer may request that the interview be recorded, either mechanically or by a stenographer. There can be no "off the record" questions. Upon request, the employee shall be provided an exact copy of any written statement the employee has signed, a copy of the audio recording, or a verbatim transcript of any interview. Upon written authorization from the employee, the Employer will provide to the Union a copy of any signed statement, copy of the audio recording, or verbatim transcript provided to the employee. The transcript will be provided if a transcript is made.
19.7 Interviewing shall be completed within a reasonable time and the employee shall be entitled to reasonable breaks for personal necessities, meals, telephone calls, consultant with the Union, and rest periods.
19.8 All interviews shall be limited in scope to activities, circumstances, or events which pertain to the employee's conduct or acts which may form the basis for disciplinary action.
Employee Resignation (a) Unless otherwise agreed by the Employer and an Employee, an Employee other than a probationary Employee may resign at any time by giving a minimum of four weeks' written notice to the Employer.
(b) In the event an Employee resigns and elects to leave before serving the required notice period, the balance of the notice period not served will not be paid out by the Employer.
Employee Representative The employee may choose someone to represent him or her at any step in the procedure. No person hearing a grievance need recognize more than one representative for any employee at any one time, unless he or she so desires.
Union Delegate/Employee Representative Facilities The Employer shall provide an agreed facility for the use of the Union Delegate/ Employee representative to perform their duties and functions as the on-site representative of the Employees. The provision of the following facilities is to ensure that the Union Delegate/Employee Representative is able to effectively perform their functions in a professional and timely manner. The facilities shall include but need not exceed:
(a) a telephone;
(b) a table and chairs
(c) a filing cabinet;
(d) air-conditioning/heating;
(e) access to stationery and other administrative facilities use of e-mail, (if available on site), following consultation between the Union Delegate/Employee Representative and Site Management.
(f) a private lockable area (g) access to a computer.
Labor Relations; Employees (a) Except as set forth on Section 5.15(a) of the Company Disclosure Letter, (i) neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a party to or bound by any collective bargaining agreement or any similar agreement, (ii) no such agreement is being negotiated by the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries, and (iii) no labor union or any other employee representative body has requested or, to the knowledge of the Company, has sought to represent any of the employees of the Company or its Subsidiaries in the past three (3) years. In the past three (3) years, to the knowledge of the Company, there has been no labor organization activity involving any employees of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and there has been no actual or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened strike, slowdown, work stoppage, lockout or other labor dispute against or affecting the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(b) Each of the Company and its Subsidiaries are, and have been for the past three (3) years, in compliance with all applicable Laws respecting labor and employment including, but not limited to, all Laws respecting terms and conditions of employment, health and safety, wages and hours, holiday pay and the calculation of holiday pay, working time, employee classification (with respect to both exempt vs. non-exempt status and employee vs. independent contractor and worker status), child labor, immigration, employment discrimination, disability rights or benefits, equal opportunity and equal pay, plant closures and layoffs, affirmative action, workers’ compensation, labor relations, employee leave issues, unemployment insurance and contributions required to be made with respect to any statutory plan, program, practice or arrangement that is required under applicable law and maintained by any Governmental Authority, except where the failure to comply would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(c) Except where it would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, in the past three (3) years, the Company and its Subsidiaries have not received written (i) notice of any unfair labor practice charge or material complaint pending or threatened before any applicable Governmental Authority against them, (ii) notice of any complaints, grievances or arbitrations arising out of any collective bargaining agreement or any other material complaints, grievances or arbitration procedures against them, (iii) notice of any material charge or complaint with respect to or relating to them pending before any applicable Governmental Authority responsible for the prevention of unlawful employment practices, (iv) notice of the intent of any Governmental Authority responsible for the enforcement of labor, employment, wages and hours of work, child labor, immigration, or occupational safety and health Laws to conduct an investigation with respect to or relating to them or notice that such investigation is in progress, or (v) notice of any complaint, lawsuit or other proceeding pending or threatened in any forum by or on behalf of any present or former employee of such entities, any applicant for employment or classes of the foregoing alleging breach of any express or implied Contract of employment, any applicable Law governing employment or the termination thereof or other discriminatory, wrongful or tortious conduct in connection with the employment relationship.
(d) To the knowledge of the Company, no present or former employee, worker or independent contractor of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries’ is in material violation of (i) any restrictive covenant, nondisclosure obligation or fiduciary duty to the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) any restrictive covenant or nondisclosure obligation to a former employer or engager of any such individual relating to (A) the right of any such individual to work for or provide services to the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries’ or (B) the knowledge or use of trade secrets or proprietary information, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(e) Neither the Company nor any of the Company’s Subsidiaries is party to a settlement agreement with a current or former officer, employee or independent contractor of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries that involves allegations relating to sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or discrimination by either (i) an officer of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) an employee of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries at the level of Director (for the avoidance of doubt, such title does not refer to a member of the board of directors) or above. To the knowledge of the Company, in the last three (3) years, no allegations of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or discrimination have been made against (i) an officer of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries or (ii) an employee of the Company or any of the Company’s Subsidiaries at the level of Director (for the avoidance of doubt, such title does not refer to a member of the board of directors) or above, in each case except as would not be or reasonably be expected to be, individually or in the aggregate, material to the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole.