Discipline or Discharge No employee covered by this Agreement shall be discharged except for just cause. “Just cause” will include the concept of progressive discipline (such as verbal and written reprimands, the possibility of suspension and termination). Which level of progressive discipline the Employer will use in a situation will depend on the circumstances and severity of the regular employee’s conduct or work performance as evaluated by the Employer. Employees shall receive a copy of all progressive discipline warnings to be placed in their personnel file. Employees shall be required to sign the written warnings within forty-eight (48) hours for the sole purpose of acknowledging receipt thereof. The Employer agrees to provide a copy of the written disciplinary action to the Union within ninety-six (96) hours of issuance. The inadvertent failure to provide the Union with a copy of the disciplinary action will not be the basis to overturn the discipline for just cause. However, if such failure causes the Union to miss the deadline to file a grievance for the discipline, the deadline shall be extended for that amount of time. Progressive discipline will not be applied when the nature of the offense is just cause for immediate suspension or discharge. Employees who have been discharged by the Employer shall, upon request by the employee, be given a written statement of the cause of discharge by the Human Resources Department at the time of discharge or within a reasonable time thereafter. Employees may request in writing to have written disciplinary action in their personnel file removed if eighteen (18) months have passed without a related discipline. Such request will not be unreasonably denied.
Resolution of Employee Dismissal or Suspension Disputes The following procedure shall be used for the resolution of disputes relating to the dismissal or suspension of an employee(s):
DISCIPLINE/DISCHARGE 21.01 The Employer may warn, suspend, demote or discharge an employee for just cause. If the conduct or performance of an employee warrants disciplinary action, such action shall be confirmed in writing. A copy of all such documentation shall be provided to the employee(s) involved, and forwarded to the office of the Union at the time they are issued.
Dismissal/Suspension for Alleged Cause Employees dismissed or suspended for alleged cause shall have the right within seven (7) calendar days after the date of dismissal or suspension to initiate a grievance at Step Three of the grievance procedure.
Appeal of Discharge or Discipline Should the discharged or disciplined employee consider the discharge or discipline to be improper, a grievance shall be presented in writing as provided in the grievance procedure. In cases of discharge, or discipline resulting in suspension, the grievance shall be filed at Step 2 of the grievance procedure within 10 days of the discharge.
Right to Grieve Disciplinary Action Employees shall have the right to grieve written censures or warnings, and adverse employee appraisals. Employees shall have the right to rebut in writing any disciplinary notice and that rebuttal will be placed in the employee file, but will not be part of the formal disciplinary record. Should an employee dispute any such entry in his/her file, he/she shall be entitled to recourse through the Grievance Procedure and the eventual resolution thereof shall become part of his/her personal record.
Re-employment After Voluntary Termination or Dismissal for Cause Where an employee voluntarily leaves the Employer's service, or is dismissed for cause and is later re-engaged, seniority and all perquisites shall date only from the time of re-employment, according to regulations applying to new employees.
DISMISSAL, SUSPENSION AND DISCIPLINE 13 11.1 Procedure 13 11.2 Dismissal and Suspension 13 11.3 Burden of Proof 13 11.4 Right to Grieve Other Disciplinary Action 13 11.5 Personnel File 13 11.6 Right to Have Union Representative Present 14 11.7 Abandonment of Position 14 11.8 Probation 14 11.9 Employee Investigations 15 ARTICLE 12 - SENIORITY 15 12.1 Seniority Defined 15 12.2 Seniority List 16 12.3 Loss of Seniority 16 12.4 Re-Employment 17 12.5 Bridging of Service 17 12.6 Same Seniority 17 ARTICLE 13 - LAYOFF AND RECALL 17 13.1 Definition of a Layoff 17 13.2 Pre-Layoff Canvass 17 13.3 Layoff 18 13.4 Bumping 18 13.5 Recall 19 13.6 Advance Notice 19 13.7 Grievance on Layoffs and Recalls 19 13.8 Worksite Closure 19 ARTICLE 14 - HOURS OF WORK 20 14.1 Definitions 20 14.2 Hours of Work 20 14.3 Rest Periods 21 14.4 Meal Periods 22 14.5 Flextime 22 14.6 Staff Meetings 22 (ii) 14.7 Standby Provisions 22 14.8 Conversion of Hours 23 ARTICLE 15 - SHIFTS 23 15.1 Exchange of Shifts 23 15.2 Shortfall of Shifts 23 15.3 Short Changeover Premium 23 15.4 Split Shifts 23 15.5 Work Schedules 23 ARTICLE 16 - OVERTIME 24 16.1 Definitions 24 16.2 Overtime Entitlement 24 16.3 Recording of Overtime 24 16.4 Sharing of Overtime 24 16.5 Overtime Compensation 24 16.6 No Layoff to Compensate for Overtime 24 16.7 Right to Refuse Overtime 25 16.8 Callback Provisions 25 16.9 Rest Interval 25 16.10 Overtime for Part-Time Employees 25 16.11 Authorization and Application of Overtime 25 ARTICLE 17 - HOLIDAYS 26 17.1 Paid Holidays 26 17.2 Holiday Falling on Saturday or Sunday 26 17.3 Holiday Falling on a Day of Rest 26
Voluntary Demotion or Voluntary Reduction in Hours An employee has a right to his regularly assigned time, and shall not have it involuntarily reduced. Employees who take voluntary demotions or voluntary reductions in assigned time in lieu of layoff shall be, at the employee’s option, returned to a position in their former class or to present former positions with increased assigned time as vacancies become available, for a period of five (5) years and three (3) months, except that they shall be ranked in accordance with their seniority on any valid reemployment list.
Appeal of Disciplinary Action If the Union is not satisfied with the response of the Town Supervisor, the Union may submit the matter to arbitration by filing a demand for arbitration with the New York State Public Employment Relations Board in accordance with its rules and regulations. The demand for arbitration must be filed within fourteen calendar days of receiving the response from the Town Board or when the response should have been received. The fees of the arbitrator shall be shared equally by the Town and the Union. The conduct of the arbitration shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the arbitrator which shall conform to applicable law. All decisions rendered by the arbitrator shall be final and binding upon all parties.
