Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)

 

General Questions:

 

Q: Can PTO be sold back at any other time than the specified time at the beginning of the year? 

A: People Solutions says: PTO cash out is a one time a year request. The only other way is via a hardship.

 

Q: Is it possible to become PIC/supervisor and still remain as a Guild member? I don't want to lose my seniority either in case I decide to step down.

A: You can become a LEAD (contract language, sometimes referred to as PIC) and remain in the Guild. A supervisor is a management position, non-union. If you become a manager you retain existing seniority but don't accrue any seniority while a manager.

Q: As a manager, you said that I will keep my seniority. What happens if I decided to step down from management and I work PT as a staff pharmacist. Do I still keep my seniority status? Is it prorated? I was told I will lose my seniority if I step down from management.

A: If you become a manager you retain existing seniority but don't accrue any seniority while a manager. If you step down you have the same seniority status as the day you became management. Status, not seniority date.
Example: If your seniority date was 1/1/1991 and you became a manager on 1/1/2001 you would retain 10 years seniority. If on 1/1/2006 you became staff again you would still have 10 years seniority but your seniority date would be revised to 1/1/1996 to reflect the 5 years as a manager you didn't accrue seniority. Full time, part time and short hour pharmacists accrue seniority at exactly the same rate, there is no proration.

 

Q: Our manager has given the first choice on the pharmacist's vacation calendar to our assistant manager. The assistant manager has been with Kaiser over 20 years and works on the line most of the time, but he is an exempt employee and not part of our bargaining unit. Is this a proper action under our contract?

A: Technical answer. The manager should not be on the same calendar as the pharmacists as he isn't a bargaining unit member. The calendar is specified by contract for the bargaining unit members. The level of seniority of the manager is not important.

 

Q: A short hour RPh (1 year more senior than myself) always gets the AM assignment and always refuses to work on holidays.

A: Short hour people have seniority although they aren't benefited, and enjoy seniority privileges. The definition of short hour is someone who works a regular shift or shifts but less than 20 hours/week.
Holidays are a difficult matter. Short hour people can be included in reverse seniority if there aren't enough volunteers. However this doesn't do you any good, this person has more seniority than you and won't have to work unless you do.

A per-diem (contract language, sometimes referred to as on call) is someone with does not work regular shifts. Per diem pharmacists don't accrue seniority but retain existing seniority if they have any. They can not be required to work on holidays.

 

Q: There are 6 short hour pharmacists and more on-call pharmacists at my location. None of them wants to work evenings nor holidays. There are only FT 4 outpatient pharmacists include myself.

A: 6 short hour? The reason I ask is that during negotiations we asked Kaiser how many short hour positions there were and we were told there are very few across the entire region. It seems odd that so many of them are in one location. Short hour people work the same scheduled hours every week. If the hours they are available to work are only days then that's what they work. If they work different hours every week, or choose among available hours, then they are per diem (on call).
There are no part time pharmacists? Most places have a number of part time regular (benefited) pharmacists. Ask if the people working less than 40 hours if they get paid when they don't work the holiday. [regular pharmacists, full or part time, get paid for unworked holiday but short hour pharmacists don't] If they get paid then they are regular. Either way, short hour or regular, they are subject to reverse seniority for holidays. 

Per diem pharmacists are specifically excluded from being required to work holidays. Per diem can't required to work a specified shift. They get to pick and choose what they want or just tell the manager what they want. When a pharmacy is short of pharmacists this leads to per diem pharmacists getting the best shifts, no matter how long they've worked at Kaiser.
If you think your facility has a large percentage of hours, more than 6%, going to per diem pharmacists you should sit down with the schedules for the last 6 months and verify that. If by your calculations more than 6% of the total pharmacists hours go to per diem then the contract clause 730 can be invoked and some of those hours can be converted into regular positions. (who can be forced to work evenings and holidays) It takes an hour or two but it is worth it. You might want to invest some of your time.

 

Questions asked by managers:

Q: We have question regarding holiday scheduling base on reverse seniority when there is not enough volunteers to cover all the holiday shifts. Are Short-Hour pharmacists included in the reverse seniority so that they are required to work holiday in such circumstances?

A: With regard to the short hour pharmacists the specific clauses about invoking reverse seniority [clause 809] for holiday scheduling only exclude the on call pharmacists [clause 725]. Short hour pharmacists accrue seniority in the same manner as do benefited pharmacists. Therefore short hour pharmacists can be required to work a designated holiday by inverse seniority. They are not obligated to work it because it is their regular day, holiday scheduling stands apart from regular scheduling.
In order to schedule a short hour on a holiday, by inverse seniority, two conditions must be met: (1) you must have offered the hours to anybody else qualified (2) the short hour employee must be lowest in seniority of pharmacists not working.
That being said, I wonder how long you will keep a short hour employee scheduling them involuntarily...

Q: In other words, if we do not have enough volunteers RPH to work on holidays, all pharmacists should be included on reverse seniority for holiday scheduling EXCEPT on-call pharmacists?

A: Yes. All consists of: benefited, full and part time; short hour. However, before you can invoke inverse seniority you need to offer the hours to anybody who is qualified in your location. For outpatient this pretty much includes everyone. This is for your benefit too. If you have to invoke inverse seniority you can say you tried EVERYBODY, not just the people who regularly work there. Makes it clear that you're only doing this as a last resort.