Let me give you all a little background of my job before I go into the details. I can't say too much as we are a goverment contacted out company and I would risk my security clearance.
We are a 24/7 365 day operation - never closed not for holidays, etc. We are also a union shop and have a contact between us and our company. Each year we are given 6 personal days and 6 sick days to use. The sick days have to be used at a minimum of 2 at a time and need a doctor's note. The personal days can be used at our discretion. They are good to use in 4 or 8 hour incriments.
As a group we tend to say that p-days shouldnt be used on holidays so that the people that have to work holidays arent short staffed (hard to fill overtime on holidays). But we also realize that they are personal days and people have the right to use them at any time. The past year we had an influx of new hires and a lot people decided to use p-days on holidays and most of our shifts were short 50% or more. This is really a major safety risk if you knew what my job entailed.
So now managment has decided to designate 5 holidays every year that p-days cannot be used unless you are sick and can provide a doctor's note. A lot of people are upset because of this decision. Say your car breaks down or a child is sick on a holiday...there is nothing you can do as you have to be at work. We also pointed out that about 25% of the workforce either retired or quit last year and they failed to replace these people leaving the operating at minimum staffing. Any type of situation (ie snow, holidays, etc) where people would use a p-day would leave any shift short.
My question is that is this legal. Do they have the right to do this? What are your opinions on this issue?
We are a 24/7 365 day operation - never closed not for holidays, etc. We are also a union shop and have a contact between us and our company. Each year we are given 6 personal days and 6 sick days to use. The sick days have to be used at a minimum of 2 at a time and need a doctor's note. The personal days can be used at our discretion. They are good to use in 4 or 8 hour incriments.
As a group we tend to say that p-days shouldnt be used on holidays so that the people that have to work holidays arent short staffed (hard to fill overtime on holidays). But we also realize that they are personal days and people have the right to use them at any time. The past year we had an influx of new hires and a lot people decided to use p-days on holidays and most of our shifts were short 50% or more. This is really a major safety risk if you knew what my job entailed.
So now managment has decided to designate 5 holidays every year that p-days cannot be used unless you are sick and can provide a doctor's note. A lot of people are upset because of this decision. Say your car breaks down or a child is sick on a holiday...there is nothing you can do as you have to be at work. We also pointed out that about 25% of the workforce either retired or quit last year and they failed to replace these people leaving the operating at minimum staffing. Any type of situation (ie snow, holidays, etc) where people would use a p-day would leave any shift short.
My question is that is this legal. Do they have the right to do this? What are your opinions on this issue?