Bargaining
FortisBC Served an Estoppel Notice Regarding a Change in Practice for our LOU #42 members
June 5, 2024
To all: FortisBC Job Stewards, Executive Councillors and FortisBC Inc. LOU #42 MoveUP Members
This bulletin is to advise our members that during bargaining, the company served your union with an estoppel notice to be effective May 29, 2024.
Estoppel:
The company or the union can serve estoppel notice prior to bargaining to stop a practice that is contrary to the collective agreement. The party serving the estoppel notice can revert to the language of the collective agreement at the end of the current round of negotiations. This means that any practice that relates to compensation issues continues until the ratification of the new collective agreement.
The Estoppel Notice: Change of Practice – WorkSafeBC Claims and Sick Leave pay
The company had become aware that members under LOU #42 had been receiving sick leave benefits while on and/or pending the adjudication of their Work Safe BC (WCB) claims. As a result, employees may have received both sick leave and WCB benefits for the same time periods and have been overpaid.
Under the company’s disability framework, an employee does not become eligible to receive sick leave benefits until after their WCB claim has been denied (subject to the company’s adjudication of the sick leave claim).
The company also advised that they have no intention to audit past payments for re-imbursement, however on a go-forward basis members filing for WCB benefits will not be paid sick leave while their WCB claims are being adjudicated.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee:
Norm Stickelmann, Executive Board Member
Michelle Simister, Executive Councillor
Charlie Lee, Executive Councillor
Lea McNaughton, Executive Councillor
Paul Voykin, Union Representative
April Young, Union Representative