Donating sick time to union employee ...

Beave · October 2003

Tragically, we have a 31 yr old employee with 2 children under the age of 2 that was very recently diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. She is a member of one of our unions and her fellow employees would like to "donate" some of their sick days to her in order to help her reach our 30 day disability start period. Our sick employee is short on her own sick days because she just used them in her time off for the births of her children. Question: If we allow employees to donate their sick time to her, is that committing an unfair labor practice? If it is, could a letter of understanding with her union prevent this charge? Since the disability is at 65%, would some of the donated time be used to offset the 65% cause any additional problems? I'm looking to prevent any potential problems down the road in this or any other situation. Thanks for any input or guidance.

835161 · October 2003

I looked into this some time ago for a nonprofit my sister worked for. The real problem was the employee tax issues. I don't remember the specifics, but you screwed up the employer's unemployment and FICA taxes by moving around sick time from one employee to another. I think you might need to consult a benefits attorney and ask whether the employer could offer to buy back sick time from the various employees and then make a gift of it to the employee who needs it. I think that is how the nonprofit solved the problem. Good luck.

Don D · October 2003

I would not be the least bit concerned with the tax consequences of doing what you're considering. Unemployment taxes are based on a relatively small percentage of the wages paid to the employee and I can't think how FICA might be affected by such a practice.

That notwithstanding, since this is a union setting I would not touch it with a 40 foot pole. Unions are notoriously unforgiving and will never, ever let this go. Emotions cannot EVER enter into decisions when a union is involved. If you were non-union, perhaps. Take the individual and the emotions completely out of the equation and the thought process. Union members and perhaps the Union as a whole, some or most of them well intended, would like to see you allow this. However, down the road, you won't hear the end of it. Anytime there is a policy, practice or contract deviation, no matter how great or small, union officials and the membership at large will forever expect and demand that you equate their situation to the deviation and will fault you formally for not doing so. Formally is spelled G R I E V A N C E. And if you allow it, you can damned sure expect this practice to be a bargaining chip on the table come negotiation time. The international of your local has a much deeper benevolence pocket than your company does. Perhaps they have such a program. I would not hesitate to make this comment to a few of them, "Perhaps, if we weren't union".

Beave · October 2003

Thanks for your input Don. I wasn't so concerned with the tax consequenses as I was with the possible union consequences - esspecially down the road. I do understand the tax issues fall to the recieving employee. That wasn't an issue here. I was conserned about the union issue and the future issues with them because of this action. My commissioners have already had their heart strings streched with this issue and have voted to allow the time sharing. I have since approached the union president and have recieved a verbal agreement that they are "Ok" with this. I'm worried about a disgruntled union employee somewhere out there filing a claim. I am now in the process of formulating a "letter of Agreement" with the union. In the next contract negotiating sessions with them and all the other union agreements, I plan to include a section on this issue. You confirmed I was headed somewhat in the right direction.

Whatever · October 2003

Don D. did a great job on the union issue. I see that you are now formulating a letter of agreement with union. I'm curious about the wording. Do you intend to allow the "donation" only to get an ee to 30 days start period or is also going to be used to help the ee when disability benefits run out. On top of which, do you really want this in the union contract or even subject to negotiation? What is being done is because this is a very emotional situation. Try to take the emotion out of it(easier said than done).

Beave · October 2003

I was concerned mainly (initially anyways) with the unfair labor practice issue. The commissioners made an "emotional" decision and now we have to deal with all these other issues. I have asked them to at least consider the other concerns in the future before making this kind of decision. They did not address the 30 day issue or many other concerns. My letter is simple in content and will inclued the fact that this is not intended to be precedent setting and future concerns similar in nature will be addressed on a one on one basis. My thought of including this issue in the next contract negotiation was that we wouldn't have to be concerned about another unfair labor practice in the future. To my knowledge, this has never happened here. I've only been here less than a year and was uncertain that this employee was a union employee. This issues was addressed unexpectedly and quickly so now I'm trying to cover the bases. The administrator has taken a hands off approach to this issue because the employee group didn't bring this issue through the administrators office prior to addressing the commission with it.

MS HR · October 2003

Beave,
Heed Don's words. Would your upper management support doing this for any union employee in the future in perpetuity???
Don't touch this with a 10-foot tall. Your sentimentality and emotions are very evident.
You're trying to be a "savior" but it will come back to bite you.
At least c.y.a. and get the pres's approval.

Beave · October 2003

Thanks MS HR. I appreciate and understand what Don said. I REALLY DO. That is exactly why I and working on the letter of understanding. My commissioners as I said did this out of emmotion and too quickly. What I am hearing from some of you is that I may not want to address this in the contracts and simply deal with it on an individual basis if this ever unfortunatly comes up again. I have asked the question, would they do this for an employee that was unpopular and was in a, say head-on collision on the way home from a evening of drinking. Fortunately, in the motion to approve this action, they included that this was not a precident setting action. Just more info.

MS HR · October 2003

Beave,
I, too, have to deal with commissioners so I can feel for you. Just be prepared for the union bringing this up at your next negotiating session.
We have a donated leave policy available to all employees who have been with us for 12 months and have medical documentation that their illness is "catastrophic" and requires long term care. Catastrophic is defined by us as requiring the use of all accumulated leave and requiring the services of a licensed physician for an extended period of time. We accept donations for the employee up to a maximum of 90 days. We also run FMLA concurrently. The part of the donations not utilized is returned on a pro rate basis to the donors.
Hope this helps. You might want to consider adopting this for all employees and take the wind out of the union's sails before they enter negotiations.

Whatever · October 2003

Actually, you do not want to do this on an individual basis. Unions have memories like elephants. Written agreement or not, their favorite questions is "What have you done in the past?" As for the motion that "this is not precedent setting"...I'm not a lawyer, but this is a self-serving statement and I can't picture a court or arbitrator ever saying it is binding. The rule is that anything that is done on an individual basis, will be treated by the union as if it was done for all.

njjel · October 2003

Oddly enough one of the proposals our unions are making is that they be permitted to donate to a sick time bank from which a sick employee may draw from if they have used all of their time and will be out for an extended period of time due to a serious health condition other than pregnancy. All the details are not worked out as yet, but I do believe it is going to be approved by upper management. Again, this is a sick back that any union ee could draw from under the right circumstances. (I do look for it to be a problem down the road - but hey, I don't sign the contract.)

jrzgrl · October 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-30-03 AT 11:49AM (CST)[/font][p]I completely agree. You can put those words in the letter, but big deal. That's not what the union is going to focus on. The fact is you did it and will be expected to do that and probably more as they will no doubt continue to ask for more leverage on this point in future-future negotiations. I think it's a great suggestion to beat the union to it and get your proposal on the table about it before they do.

Don D · October 2003

NJJEL: This sick back program the union is proposing. Just who will administer it? Who will manage the time bank? Who will decide what warrants it? Who will administratively manage the spreadsheet of time in and time out of this bank? Who will prepare and send the union a monthly or weekly administrative accounting of the balance and what happened to it by employee and date? Are you already advertising for the extra person in accounting/payroll? This may sound like a wonderfully benevolent move; but it will be an administrative nightmare.

MS HR · October 2003

Beave,
Don speaks words of wisdom.
It's been an administrative nightmare for us. For example, we had one lady go out for a whole year, come back for six months, and go out for another year.
Meanwhile the manager had to keep the job open for her, temporaries cost an arm and a leg, we had to continue her on the group insurance, and she accrued more leave while she was on donated leave because that's an active employment status.
It's not an "add on" to your job duties without requiring much more time than you would imagine and is very subject to abuse. If you do it, set a maxiumum number of days of usage, require confirmation from your company doctor as to the necessity, and try to control its administration. Good luck.

njjel · October 2003

Don - Like I said, I don't sign the contract. Administration, of course, will handle the bank along with everything else. It is all but a done deal. From what I've heard it is to be voluntary.

Beave · October 2003

Thanks MS HR. My Commissioners would like a policy or program addressing this topic. I understand exactly what you, Don and others are saying and if it were up to me, I would not allow this type of program at all. Since it is not my decision to make, I have advised them to allow me to set parameters on donating time. I am not recommending any sort of a bank type program but rather an individual to individual type program with a maximum time donated, recieved and a minimum they have to have on their own banks to even be allowed to donate. With a stipulation that the receivee will use all of their time they have available to them BEFORE they are able to accept any time from fellow employees. The idea is to assist them get to the STD program - nothing more. I have some that think we should only allow vacation time donations and not sick time donations with the thought that vacation time would be more valuable. I don't agree with that because the purpose of the Commissioners looking at this program is to assist our employees get to the STD program. This really doesn't occur very often but we never know I guess. With the union, I have a letter they are Ok with and I am now in the process of getting the appropriate signatures.

sonny · October 2003

I was surprised to find when I came here that our union contract has a section on donation of time. It has been used and not caused any MAJOR problems.

Couple of key points

Recipient must have exhausted all of their time (sick and vacation)
Has to be out d/t illness or injury with the expectation of returning to work
Hours must be donated in 4 hour increments (sick or vacation)
Recipient will not accrue any additional leave time while on leave and being paid from donations.

Donating sick time to union employee ...

Comments