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What IS Reasonable Time?
You, the Job Rep, receive a call from
a member asking for representation. After briefly
hearing what the issues are, you determine that you
need to meet with the member privately as soon as
possible.
You notify your supervisor that you need to
investigate a possible grievance and you estimate
that it will take two hours. Your supervisor asks
who the potential grievant is and where he/she
works. You tell your supervisor that you can not
divulge that information.
Your supervisor then tells you that
you have one hour.
Both the General Government and
Higher Education Master Collective Bargaining
Agreements (CBA) state that notification of your
supervisor:
“…will include the approximate amount of
time the representative expects the activity to take.
Any agency/college business requiring the employee’s
immediate attention will be completed prior to attending
the meeting.”
The respective CBAs also state that
Job Reps will be allowed “…a reasonable amount of
time” to perform representational activities.
Reasonable time is defined as the
time needed to do what the contact requires to be
done. (Black’s Law Dictionary)
You meet with the potential grievant
in an attempt to document who, what, when and where.
You also find out that there are witnesses that will
have to be interviewed.
Your hour is about up and you’re
slowly getting a clear picture of what happened
after having spent most of your time calming the
member down. You realize that you’re going to need
additional time.
You call your boss and tell him/her that you’ll need
more time. However, your boss tells you to return to
work as you only have the hour as originally
granted.
You tell your boss you’ll obey, but
once back at your work site, you’ll then ask to be
released to interview witnesses.
And, you can inquire as to what has
happened in the hour that you’ve been gone that
requires your immediate attention? That might be
enough to convince him/her to be reasonable and
grant adequate time.
If your boss insists that you return,
do so, but notify WPEA immediately! It’s better to
obey and then grieve later.
Not granting you, the Job Rep, the
necessary time to correctly investigate potential
grievances places WPEA in a position where it
violates our DUTY OF FAIR REPRESENTATION. |
