COVID-19 Voluntary Furlough Program
Memorandum of Understanding for SJC
Due to decreased volume due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the Employers have agreed to offer temporary voluntary furloughs as a means of maintaining productivity. The Employer, Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph’s campus and the Union, the Communications Workers of America, agree to the following:
- Select employees shall be offered voluntary furloughs in two (2) week increments without pay. All affected employees will be eligible to apply for New York State and Federal Unemployment benefits.
- Any employee who volunteers for this furlough program will be required to complete an Acknowledgement Form agreeing to the terms of their respective furlough and providing current contact information.
- All affected employees shall continue to participate in any enrolled benefits or voluntary benefits (e.g. Health Coverage, Dental Coverage, Life Insurance, FSA, etc.) and will be responsible to continue to pay their share of premiums.
- All accrued time will be frozen (PTO, ESL) and no additional time will be accrued during the furlough.
- Such furlough shall not constitute a break in service for the purposes of Seniority.
- Furlough weeks will be offered in order of seniority on a rotating basis beginning with the most senior employee within each selected unit or department.
- Per Diem employees will be exempt from meeting their commitment when furloughs are in effect.
- No agency employees shall perform bargaining unit work while furloughs are in effect.
- The Employers will develop a furlough schedule, which will begin on June 29, 2020.
- Consistent with the commitments made in this MOU, the parties agree to have open discussions about the need to continue and/or modify the Temporary Furlough Program based on the status of the state of emergency and issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the needs of the individual sites and programs.
- Given the uncertainty of the current situation and the potential for patient volume or census to increase during the furlough period, the Employer expressly reserves the right to call back any furloughed employee with a minimum of a twenty-four (24) hour notice. The individual must make every effort to return to work as soon as possible. Should the Employer exercise the right of recall during the furlough period for a particular unit or department, the order of call back will be by inverse seniority. If the Employer is not able to make contact with a furloughed employee after one attempt, the Employer will continue down the seniority list until the appropriate number of employees have been recalled. It is the furloughed employee’s obligation to make sure the contact information is accurate.
Dated: June 24, 2020
| Communications Workers of America Michael E. Dunphy _______________________________ Michael E Dunphy | SOCH SJC Hospital ___ |
