BC Hydro – Clarification of Responsibilities for Scheduling Medical and Dental Appointments

Clarification of Responsibilities for Scheduling Medical and Dental Appointments

Article 15.09 COPE / BCH Collective Agreement

In the last round of collective bargaining, MoveUP and BC Hydro agreed to some changes to the collective agreement language intended to minimize the impact of medical appointments on BC Hydro operations.  There seems to be some confusion about what this new language means so we have included below the correct interpretation of this new language.

15.09         MEDICAL AND DENTAL APPOINTMENTS

1. a) Employees shall make every effort to schedule medical and/or dental appointments outside scheduled work hours or on RWWL days.
2. b) Only in time sensitive situations and where it is not possible to schedule medical and/or dental appointments outside of scheduled work hours or on RWWL days, should employees schedule such appointments during regular work hours.
3. c) If appointments must be scheduled during work hours, Employees must provide as much notice as possible with respect to the scheduling of medical/dental appointments during work hours to facilitate the scheduling of work. In these cases employees shall make every effort to schedule such appointments near the start of the working day, near the end of a working day, or during lunch time to help minimize the impact in the workplace.
4. d) Employees who go for medical and dental appointments will only code their time as sick leave for periods over 2 hours. Travel time of up to 2 days shall be granted, where required for medical reasons, for travel to remote medical specialists or facilities. Time off for travel shall be treated as leave of absence with pay.

Both MoveUP and BC Hydro agree that the following applies for requests for time off to attend medical/dental appointment:

• Employees have an obligation to make every effort to schedule medical and/or dental appointments outside of scheduled work hours or on RWWL days.
• However, if an appointment cannot be scheduled outside of work hours, employees are obliged to provide as much notice as possible to facilitate the scheduling of work.  In these cases employees shall make every effort to schedule the appointments near the start of the day, near the end of the working day or during lunch time to help minimize the impact on the workplace.
• Managers should use judgment in administering this clause.  Employees may still take a medical appointment on work hours – however, it should not be a regular occurrence.  Increased flexibility is required for unplanned emergency or specialist appointments.
• If an appointment lasts longer than 2 hours then any time in excess of 2 hours should be coded as sick leave.

Employees are not required to code time as RWWL.

In Solidarity,

Tony Geluch, Union Representative
Barbara Junker, Union Representative
Mike Novak, Union Representative
April Young, Union Representative
Cheryl Popeniuk, Senior Union Representative
Rysa Kronebusch, Vice President Utilities.

File Number: 19-BCH-BLTN-Clarification-of-Responsibilities-for-scheduling-medical-and-dental-appointments-Sept-25

Union Label: km:usw2009

Reply to: kmallory@moveuptogether.ca