Substituting Unpaid Family Leave With Paid Leave
Using Vacation Time Taken From the Month Immediately
Following the Month in Which the Unpaid Time was
Taken:
Example: Under the Company's current
policy, a Flight Attendant who took a UA on January
21st, and wanted to substitute the absence with a
VF, has to advise the Company as soon as possible
but no later than two days after returning to work
from that absence of her/his intent to substitute
paid leave. However, if the Flight Attendant wanted
to use her/his vacation time from February, which is
the month immediately following the month in which
the UA occurred, she/he would be denied, as such
request(s) are required to be submitted prior to the
closing of the bids. The Association believed that
this policy sets up an artificial barrier to a
Flight Attendant's rights to substitute paid leave
for an unpaid leave. Flight Attendant's experiencing
an absence anytime after the bids have closed until
the end of that month would be denied the right to
convert the time. Additionally, Flight Attendants
whose return to work following an unpaid absence
occurs after the bids have closed would also be
denied the right to convert the time. In order to
resolve this issue the Association and the Company
have agreed to the following:
• A Flight Attendant
will now have until the 5th of the month,
following the month in which the unpaid leave
was taken, to make the Company aware of her/his
desire to substitute paid leave. This will not
however negate the Flight Attendant's
responsibility to notify the Company of their
desire to substitute such UA to IF, SF or VF, no
later than two days after returning to work from
that absence.
• If the unpaid leave occurs after the bids have
closed or if the notification of intent to
substitute paid leave for unpaid leave occurs
after the bids have closed, then the vacation
time used for the substitution will be coded as
VU (unpaid vacation)
• The time must be taken from either the
beginning or the end of the Flight Attendant's
vacation block
• If the Flight Attendant chooses to use
vacation for the purposes of paid leave
substitution from dates where there is a
scheduled trip within the vacation block, such
dates will be changed from a VC code to a VU
code and will now be unpaid.
• If the Flight Attendant chooses to use
vacation for the purposes of paid leave
substitution on dates where there are scheduled
days off within the vacation block, such dates
will be changed from a VC code to a VU code and
will now be unpaid.
• Any vacation block shortened as a result of
the use of VU codes, will be prorated for
purposes of vacation pay as found in Section
10.D. of the collective bargaining agreement, in
which a Flight Attendant is credited for the
greater of 18.75 hours per week (7 days) of the
scheduled vacation or the amount of scheduled
flight time of the trip sequence(s) removed by
crew scheduling.
• A Flight Attendant may elect to substitute
unpaid leave with paid leave using vacation time
scheduled in the month following the month in
which the unpaid leave was taken, regardless of
whether they have additional vacation time
scheduled later in the year. In other words,
using the example above, a Flight Attendant may
choose to use her/his February vacation time for
paid leave substitution even if she/he has
additional vacation time scheduled in July of
the same year.
• Mechelle Chapman will include this information
in the FMLA User Guide she is currently working
on and which will be published the Flight
Attendants.
Substituting Unpaid Family Leave for Paid
Leave Using PVDs
Company policy currently requires a Flight Attendant
to deplete all of her/his current year's vacation
before being allowed to use PVDs to substitute paid
leave for any unpaid leave. The Association
Questioned this Company imposed limitation since
Flight Attendants not taking leave, are in fact
allowed to use PVDs before all of their current
year’s vacation has been depleted. For example, a
Flight Attendant can take a PVD in January even
though she/he may have three weeks paid vacation
time left in the current year.
The Company has reconsidered, and Flight Attendants
will no longer be required to deplete all of their
current year’s vacation before being allowed to use
PVDs to substitute unpaid leave for paid leave.
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