Use of Sick Leave
 

Reading the CBA’s Use of Sick leave (14.B.2.) and just want to see if I am missing something.


Pilot A was awarded a secondary line with trips in week 1 and week 2 and reserve in week 3.

Pilot B was awarded a reserve line with a block of reserve in week 1, week 2, and week 3.

Pilot C has one long block of reserve.


Pilots A & B get sick in week 3. Pilot C was sick an equal number of days in their string of days.

None were ever needed to fly while sick (e.g., way down on the leveling list).


Pilot A has his/her sick leave deducted the value of that week’s reserve block.

Pilots B & C keeps their sick leave as they were not sick for all R-days.


Am I reading that right?

If so, does that make sense for the secondary line holder?

Secondary line holder does get screwed. He also gets no leveling for vacation hours.

That’s what our union sold to us and 57% bought it.🤷🏼

If any of the three were sick for all R days in their month, no matter how many there are, and doesn't pull even one, their sick bank is charged the full amount.Whether they would have been used or not. You need to stand at least one day, if possible, or you're screwed.

I am not sure the exact fix, but this seems like something to be fixed in the next contract. Maybe just removing the mini-RLG folks from that sick leave paragraph.

Speaking of sick leave
 

Got this a while ago and couldn't find it until recently. I think this is still being used:

So we are being penalized for being sick and the punishment is even more severe if you’re sick on a holiday or during training. SMFH and our union signed of on it and 57% voted for it.

I got the impression that the union was aware, possibly agreed to it. I don't think it was supposed to be for public consumption, but these things tend to come out one way or another.

It looks to me that the "punishment" is the same, regardless of how you arrive at the requisite number of points. Being sick over a holiday or for training just gets you there quicker.

Damn you whine a lot. Looking forward to the awesome contract and retirement you will negotiate for us in 2021. :rolleyes:

No whining here, just pointing out the all the crap in this contract the union hide during their sales job.

"The union"?

Hide?

The Negotiating Committee and the MEC may not have advertised or bragged about certain aspects and provisions, but they couldn't hide anything.

It was all there for any and every UNION MEMBER to read. (Reading should be a prerequisite to voting.)

Seems like you're just discovering things which were published, in writing, years ago.






.

Nope this is essentially a grievance settlement.

[QUOTE=TonyC;2697508]"The union"?

Hide?

The Negotiating Committee and the MEC may not have advertised or bragged about certain aspects and provisions, but they couldn't hide anything.

It was all there for any and every UNION MEMBER to read. (Reading should be a prerequisite to voting.)

Seems like you're just discovering things which were published, in writing, years ago.




You are correct, it wasn’t hidden. A lot of the pitfalls I point out on here, I brought it up during the conference calls and was cut off most of the times I was trying to make my point. I read that TA and saw too many weak areas and give backs.

One which we will lose

I think settlement means...wait for it...already settled.

Anyone been getting notes arbitrarily for exercising their CBA rights to use SL?

Grievance argument was that the Threshold to trigger a note was too low.

Whether I like the CBA language or not, every CBA we've had allows FedEx to question certain uses of SL.
Just as it's legal for employers in general to question SL use.

Companies position for a long time has been that if you're sick for every day of reserve, you've used SL.

Would be interesting to see, in theory, whether you're notional VTO holder dropping an R day in the middle of the block would wind up being charged as well.

Is our sick use policy common in the industry or are we just crazy for allowing this??

I find it pretty standard if not better than much of the industry.

The big issue with SL as it relates to airline pilots is that there are many common ailments that would prevent us from being able to perform our jobs that may not be applicable to someone who works a traditional ground based job. Example, a common cold wouldn’t likely keep someone from their desk but associated inner ear issues may render it impossible for a pilot to perform duties. We are also prohibited from taking many of the medications that non-pilots might avail themselves to that help suppress symptoms of these common ailments. It’s really not an apples and oranges comparison to the average American worker and their use of sick leave.

Compounding this problem is the rest aspect for us. How many times have you heard a doctor say, “drink plenty of liquids and get a lot of rest”? That’s pretty hard when you’re AM hub turning.

That being said, I’ve never been asked for a note but I have used my SL responsibly and rarely. I also don’t find myself getting sick nearly as often now that I’m not spending 20 days a month in passenger terminals and breathing the recirculated germs of the masses. One advantage to working at Purple.

-UA

My previous airline allowed unlimited sick calls if documented with a doctor’s note. You had to see a doctor within 72 hours of calling in sick and had to turn in the original sick note by your next assignment. A sick call could only be for a maximum of 14 days. And there was limitations on who you could get a note from and what the note had to say.

If you didn’t have a doctor’s note, you got one point for each sick call. The Cheif Pilot was contractually allowed to ask for a sick note if you called before/after vacation or a holiday. After 4 in a rolling twelve calendar months, you got a verbal warning, 5 a written warning, 6 a termination warning, and theoretically after 7 you could be fired. Although I never hear of anyone actually being fired because of sick notes. Probably because lawyers would get involved. Usually they found another reason to fire pilots who they suspected they were abusing the sick call policy. Last thing, if a pilot had a no show or unable to contact for reserves, they got 2 points.

It is not standard nor is it better than the rest of the industry. The company can and will at their discretion have you evaluated by a physician of their choice.
You get more point for being sick on a holiday 😏 which are normally during flu season. You fly around the world, different hotel beds, countries where you are exposed to more crap than the average 9 to 5 worker, but you get points for being sick.

I addressed most of what you just said. I agree with you often but maybe read what I actually wrote.

Our exposure and risk is elevated but almost every airline has some trigger that requires the pilot to provide documentation for a sick call. It seems a though the trigger at Purple is pretty close to the other 3 airlines that I worked for.

Delta used to have a no sick note policy for the first 100 hours of sick that they used, but they gave that up in their last contract. Now they’ve got a look back like most other carriers.

-UA

I got what you’re saying, the “ if not better” throw me of a bit.

No disrespect intended but ROFLMAO! Just like all the other issues our union promised to fix but repeatedly failed too; 4A2B, FDA, improved retirement benefits, contract language that FedEx attorneys can drive a Mack truck through, sick bank usage, First Class deadheading, etc.


I've come to the conclusion that if my union recommends it, I'm voting against it assuming I'm even afforded that opportunity!