Snohomish Health District provides employees up to four hours per calendar year when an employee legitimately believes that travel to work is overly hazardous or circumstances at home require their presence (inclement weather). During the snowstorm earlier this year, it was discovered that the collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with the District’s four unions (Washington State Council of County and City Employees/AFSCME; Washington State Nurses Association [WSNA]; Professional and Technical Employees – Allied Professional Health Unit [PTE-APHU]; and Professional Technical Employees Environmental Health Unit [PTE-EHU]) had differing applications than the employee handbook.
The employee handbook allows employees to use this leave if they’re going to be late or if they need to leave early. If the employee is out a full day, they have the ability to use vacation, floating holiday, or comp time in addition to the four hours.
The CBAs allow employees to use this leave only if they are going to be late to work due to inclement weather, and they can only use vacation or comp time. Floating holiday is not an option to use in addition to the four hours if they’re going to be out their entire workday.
In order for the inclement weather language to be consistent between the CBAs and the employee handbook, a memorandum of understanding was developed. The AFSCME MOU is attached as Exhibit A. The PTE-APHU and PTE-EHU MOU is attached as Exhibit B. WSNA is currently voting on the MOU. Once approved by the unions and the Board of Health, the CBAs will be updated during the next negotiation cycle with the inclement weather language in the MOU.