Bulletin
FortisBC-CSC – Changes to Health and Sick Leave
August 1, 2023
To: All MoveUP members at FortisBC-CSC
I write to inform you of important changes to the administration of sick leave benefits in the FortisBC-CSC collective agreement, resulting from our recent negotiation.
As many of you are aware, in our last round of collective bargaining, the parties agreed to the removal of Article 8 – Health Leave from your collective agreement. Prior to this, health leave had essentially worked as a restricted source of sick leave sufficient only for infrequent, short absences, which could be used as a stopgap means of covering the three-day unpaid waiting period for sick leave in the case of longer absences.
During bargaining, the union drew the employer’s attention to two serious problems with the administration of health and sick leaves: firstly, because health leave was such a limited supply of days, members who needed sick days more frequently but for short periods could quickly run out of health leave days without their illness lasting through the three day waiting period for sick leave. This meant that once they had exhausted their health leave, a member with a chronic illness characterized by short flare-ups of three days or fewer in duration would not be compensated for time sick regardless of how many total days they may have been unable to attend work as the result of their illness – even though they were entitled to 15 weeks of sick days under Article 10 – Sick Leave.
We also clarified with the employer that they had been misapplying the language in Article 10.13(a), which entitles them to medical documentation substantiating illnesses extending beyond three working days, as a waiting period for sick leave benefits. We informed them of our intention to enforce a strict reading of the plain language of this article, ending the practice of the three-day unpaid waiting period.
To summarize, now that health leave has been removed from the collective agreement and the practice of a three-day unpaid waiting period for sick leave has been stopped, members are able to access their sick leave entitlements under Article 10 starting on the first day of any given period of illness.
As was the case before this round of bargaining, the employer retains the right to require medical certificates after three working days of illness, or if sick leave is used frequently, or if they suspect sick leave abuse, and they may require a member to be examined by a doctor agreed to by the parties. Also, they are still working to develop an attendance management program to address their ongoing concerns around attendance.
If you are subject to a waiting period for sick leave benefits despite the changes outlined above, please contact your job steward.
In solidarity,
Paul Voykin
Union Representative