General Guidelines
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) recognize the role and benefits of union stewards and representatives in regard to contract implementation and administration as well as successful labor-management relations.
Article 3 of the OCSEA labor agreement outlines the various roles, responsibilities, and activities of union stewards and representatives and the leave available to them; i.e., paid or unpaid. It further recognizes Management's right to require prior approval before union stewards and representatives may leave the work site or make themselves unavailable for ODNR work.
A Union Leave Request Log has been developed through a joint labor-management process to assist the parties in complying with this contractual provision. The Employer shall make available the Union Leave Request Log to all union stewards and representatives and their immediate supervisors or designees.
Procedure
As soon as a union steward or representative is made aware of his/her need for union leave, he/she shall complete the Union Leave Request Log and submit to his/her immediate supervisor or designee. It is the supervisor's responsibility to inform the union steward or representative of the supervisor's designee, and what process shall be followed if both the supervisor and the designee are not available. For purposes of this procedure, union leave is defined as any time a steward or representative is unavailable to perform ODNR work for more than a regular break period (15 minutes); e.g., off-site meetings, on-site meetings, telephone meetings, etc. The parties recognize that it is not always possible to obtain prior approval for unplanned phone calls. In those situations, the union steward or representative is still required to complete the Union Leave Request Log according to this procedure to ensure that the time will be logged.
Upon receipt of a Union Leave Request Log , the immediate supervisor or designee shall approve or disapprove and return a copy to the employee. Union leave may only be disapproved for critical operational needs. These reasons must be specified on the log. Union leave pursuant to Article/Section 3.10 shall not be denied if reasonable notice has been given. Notice shall be provided by using the Union Leave Request Log . The Employer may limit Article 3.10 leave requests to two individuals from the same office, institution or division within a county. In making this determination, the Employer shall consider shifts, classifications and work areas. Divisions requesting to limit an Article 3.10 request pursuant to this provision must provide this information to DNR Labor Relations Section as soon as possible for final approval through the Office of Collective Bargaining.
At the end of every pay period, the division/office shall submit all Union Leave Request Logs to the Office of Human Resources, Labor Relations Section. Additionally, the supervisor shall provide a copy of the completed log to the union steward or representative at the same time. The Division shall ensure that all union leave is coded appropriately on the employeeÿy´s activity report pursuant to DAS Payroll Letter 784. The Labor Relations Section shall submit all Logs to the Office of Collective Bargaining.
In situations that necessitate that union leave be extended beyond what was approved, the union steward or representative must inform the supervisor or designee and amend the Union Leave Request Log upon his/her return. If this time varies considerably from the original request, the supervisor will reassess the leave request.