12/8/09
AFSCME MANDATORY UNPAID DAYS UPDATE

AFSCME voted to accept the proposal for 5 mandatory unpaid days in late November. Since then we have been in communication with the Board of Regents Office and the Department of Administrative Services regarding implementation of the agreement. Currently, specific details are still being reviewed for the Regents Institutions by DAS and AFSCME, in consultation with Board of Regents staff. However, some general issues have been decided.

Currently, AFSCME staff are eligible to take Mandatory Unpaid Days (MUD) off beginning December 1, 2009. If an employee requested LWOP and was approved for the leave, departments may count those days toward the employee’s total MUD day requirement. Employees may begin submitting requests for MUD days/hours. Departments may approve those days using the contract provisions for vacation leave requests (Article IX, Section 11, D). Employees may be approved for whole days or hours just like vacation.

With the pending weather and the likely increase in weather call-offs tomorrow, I wanted to provide the following guidance. The contract allows for employees that cannot make it to work for severe weather to use compensatory time, vacation or leave of absence without pay. We cannot require staff to take paid time off under Article XI, Section6, A. With this in mind, should an employee request a LWOP day under Article XI, Section 6, A, he or she may designate the day/hours as a MUD. At this time, management may not mandate the day to be MUD but may suggest the employee count it toward their required MUD days. Employees are encouraged to follow the departmental request process.

We hope to have implementation information (FAQ) to employees and departments early next week. For now, departments should refrain from processing MUD days Employee Personnel Actions (EPA) until you have received the MUD EPA implementation guidance. Please do not make other assumptions regarding the MUD program at this time. Additional specific information will be issued once it is available. The FY 10 TLO/F program elements are not applicable to the MUD program.