After much back-and-forth UPE and the department have finally reached an agreement. The initial AWOL language that the department proposed has been removed. As long as the employee has time on the books and follows the call-in procedure, they can use their time. The department has also given the employee more time to call in; instead of calling in thirty (30) minutes prior to the start of their shift, they can now call-in no later than fifteen (15) minutes prior. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the department to obtain an absence line thus lessening the amount of phone numbers for the employee to call. We are hopeful this will be coming in the future.
Thank you to the participants for your advocacy
Stella Byrd and Jennifer Avalo