Dispute over pay leads to new understanding on how overtime hours are applied to SWFs
Recently, a full-time faculty member agreed to accept six hours of overtime in order to fill in for another professor who had to take an unexpected leave. But after stepping up to help out his program, the overtime pay that appeared on his paycheque was less than expected. Instead of getting the six hours of overtime pay as he was expecting, he was only compensated for 4.1 hours at overtime pay and 1.9 hours at normal pay.
The dispute over pay centres on the faculty member’s total number of hours on his SWF. Because he was not yet at 44 hours – the maximum allowed before overtime is paid – only the portion of the six hours that took him beyond 44 hours was paid at OT rates, resulting in a smaller increase than expected.
The union filed a grievance over the pay dispute arguing that the compensation was not as expected and that past practice had seen others in similar situations get the full amount of overtime pay specified. After meeting with management, it was agreed that the OT pay was not a technical violation of the collective agreement (CA) but the college did recognize that there was an inconsistent application of CA and so agreed to issue an additional payment amount to the faculty to settle the grievance. The faculty member agreed to this resolution and the union acknowledged that the overtime payment going forward will follow the provisions of the contract as outlined in the applicable article.
As a result of this dispute and settlement, it is important that members understand that when taking on additional hours, overtime will only be paid on the number of hours that exceeds 44. For example, a faculty member sitting at 40 hours on their SWF would not receive any OT pay at all for taking on an additional four hours of work. As well, it is important to note that members do not have to take on an extra workload is asked and overtime must be agreed to by mutual agreement.
When in doubt, reach out to the local to ensure you are being compensated correctly.