Union Corner: Chapter, CDER Agree on Alternative Work Schedules; Any 80 Possible

On Dec. 22, NTEU Chapter 282 and CDER signed a memorandum of understanding that settled the framework for alternative work schedules within the Center.

This article explores some possibilities for the most flexible of the regular alternative work schedules-“Any 80.” No employee is required to adopt an alternative work schedule, and any alternative work schedule requires supervisory approval. A form to request approval of alternative work schedules can be found in the contract on page 91. Regular fixed schedules (the default) and compressed schedules will not be discussed in this article.

The purpose of alternative work schedules is to allow employees the flexibility to meet obligations they might have outside of work and still accomplish the Agency’s mission. The contract recognizes that the duties and responsibilities of some positions preclude a flexible schedule and that the Agency’s mission must be given great deference.

Article 25 of the NTEU-FDA contract allows the Agency to set core hours in consultation with the union. All other aspects of alternative work schedules are determined by negotiation. In mid-December, the union and CDER consulted and negotiated an alternative work schedule agreement. The memorandum of understanding defines “core hours” and “flexible work bands.”

CDER’s core hours are Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The principle purpose of these hours is to facilitate the scheduling and holding of meetings with outside parties on a time-sensitive schedule imposed by statute.

CDER’s flexible work bands are all hours other than core hours on Monday through Friday and all day Saturday. During these flexible work bands, both basic work requirements may be fulfilled and credit hours earned. On Sunday, only credit time may be earned.

Only 24 hours of credit time can be carried over from one pay period to the next. Employees not on duty during core hours have to cover their absence with some form of leave such as annual leave, sick leave, comp time or credit time.

An exemption mechanism has been set up for those CDER employees whose duties and responsibilities are such that core hours may not be particularly applicable to them.

In an Any 80 alternative work schedule, a full-time employee is required to complete 80 hours of basic work requirement in a pay period and cover core hours. A pay period in which the employee works less than 80 hours requires the difference to be made up with some form of leave. Hours worked in excess of 80 hours earn credit time. Except for Sunday, all initial hours worked in a pay period are considered basic work requirement hours until 80 hours are accumulated. After that, all hours in excess of 80 hours are considered credit hours.

The employee must be on duty during core hours even if the basic 80-hour work requirement has been met. In this circumstance the hours in excess of 80 hours would all be credit hours. Employees are responsible for completing their basic hourly work requirements, covering their core hours and work assignments and tracking their credit time account.

Although the CDER core hours encompass 30 of the 40 hours in a work week, CDER’s alternative work schedule is still more flexible than schedules previously available. Some illustrations of how Any 80 could work are presented below. Supervisory approval for the Any 80 alternative work schedule is all that is required for the first three examples. The examples are:

• Core hours Monday through Friday, balance on Saturday. The employee would work Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. With mandatory half-hour lunch breaks this covers 271/2 hours of work. The employee then supplies 121/2 hours of work requirement on Saturday.
• Core hours Monday through Friday, balance in three evenings. The employee would work Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with lunch breaks and then 41/2 hours on one evening and 4 hours each on two other evenings.
• Early completion of the basic work requirement and credit time accumulation. For employees who complete their basic work requirement sometime before 3:30 p.m. on Friday of the second week in a pay period, all additional hours worked are credit time. If, for example, an employee completes the basic work requirement for a pay period on Tuesday of the second week, core hours on Wednesday to Friday are automatically credit time.
• A week off in a pay period without using annual leave. To do this, an employee would need 24 hours of credit time going into a pay period. On the first Sunday of the pay period, the employee would work 31/2 hours to accumulate enough credit time to cover the 271/2 core hours of the week the employee will be absent (30 hours less five half-hour lunch breaks). The employee would then work 11-hour days Monday to Friday of the week at work. Since these days include the half-hour lunch break, they accumulate 101/2 hours of work requirement. This will cover the 40-hour work requirement for the week at work. The extra 21/2 hours a day will cover the 121/2 hours of work requirement remaining from the week off. Supervisory approval is necessary to be absent during core hours of the week off. This schedule sounds tough, but there are employees who are probably doing something similar to it already.

It is the union’s position that Any 80 is the most fair and flexible schedule for most employees.

Operating divisions all over FDA are coming up with local rules limiting the number of credit hours that their employees can earn on a given day. If any employee objects to these restrictions, the union will challenge them in a class action before the joint labor-management alternative work schedule committee.

Similar rules being applied to individuals should be taken by the adversely affected individual to the joint committee.

Robert Young is Chapter 282 president.