Meet & Confer with Merced County HSA
- UPE
- Oct 27
- 2 min read
On October 16, 2024, United Public Employees (UPE) met with the Merced County Human Services Agency (HSA) to discuss updated operational directives: Directive #79 covering Work Schedules and Directive #48 covering Time and Attendance Reporting.
Directive #79 outlines policies for regular work shifts, alternate work schedules (AWS), split shifts, and telework. During the meet and confer, UPE proposed several changes to protect flexibility and fairness for employees. First, UPE proposed and it was agreed to put language requiring the department to provide as much advance notice as possible when flexing employee schedules due to operational needs. UPE also pushed to add language for appeal process for employees who are denied an AWS. The County agreed, and the revised policy now includes languages that employees can request a review of any AWS denial by the next level in the chain of command if denied. Lastly, UPE and the county agreed to remove restrictive language that limited AWS participation to no more than one-fifth of a team.
Directive #48 covers employee responsibilities for accurately entering time worked into the Kronos system, requesting time off, and following proper procedures for call-outs. While no major changes were made to this directive during the meeting, UPE continues to monitor its application to ensure it is being implemented fairly and consistently. Finally, the evaluation templates were updated; however, the only changes made were replacing “Position Number” with “Employee Number” and modifying a signature block to have “Department Head” under it.
UPE remains committed to standing up for your rights and ensuring that policies reflect fairness, flexibility, and transparency in the workplace. If you have any questions or would like more information about the changes, please reach out to your UPE representative.
