Frequently Asked Questions

Article OP40 - Position Abolishment

• Management can abolish operating positions that are no longer required for reasons that may include, but are not limited to, technological change, automation, contracting out, merger or dissolution of departments and budgetary constraints. Managers need to prepare a sound business case that outlines why the position(s) is no longer required.
• In instances where positions are abolished, the order is discharge or transfer is determined on the basis of seniority when other relevant factors are equal. Management must analyze how the abolished employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities match up against employees with less seniority, in the same department, who are in the same Job Family and Phase — or if applicable the new lower level Phase — or the last previous position held by the abolished employee.
• Managers need to remember that positions, not people, are abolished. Position abolishment occurs because the position is no longer required. It is improper to use abolishment as a means to surreptitiously terminate an employee.
• Managers are encouraged to contact the Faculty/Unit assigned HR Services Partner as early as possible when considering a position abolishment.

Article 31 - Special Leave 31.02 (f), 31.03 (f), 31.05

• Personal Leave Days (PLDs) enable employees to take discretionary time-off for situations that may not be covered elsewhere in the Collective Agreement. 
• Employees are generally required to request prior approval for leaves, including PLDs and the Collective Agreement allows an employee to take a PLD when they satisfy the following conditions:
• If an employee just leaves a voicemail indicating they are taking a PLD, you should meet with the employee to let them know that it is not acceptable to simply leave a message on the absence phone line. In order to manage operational requirements, requests to use PLDs must be made in advance.  Managers are strongly advised to provide employees with advanced notice of times during the year, or circumstances (i.e., near Christmas), when they will require 2 weeks’ notice.
• Exceptional circumstances will arise where an employee asks to use their PLD on short notice. These exceptional circumstances should be addressed on a case-by-case basis and managers must be reasonable and act fairly when considering the request.

1. Completed three months of continuous employment
2. Are not otherwise absent from work
3. Makes an application (for leave).

CA Reference: Article OP18 - Hours of Work

• Employees are required to attend the workplace on time and ready for work.  If your employee arrives late, address it with them in a timely manner. It is important to be reasonable, especially if this is the first instance or there are exceptional circumstances that caused the lateness.
• If you have an employee who is consistently late you should first speak with the employee to inquire about the reason(s) for the lateness. Provide the employee an opportunity to explain why they are late and discuss your need for them to be on time. If the employee shares that their lateness is due to a medical condition or a family obligation, the university may have a duty to accommodate. If the employee states that a medical condition or family obligation prevents them from attending work on time, you should consult with your Faculty/Unit assigned HR Partner on next steps.
• If there is no good or exceptional reason for the lateness, and your employee continues to come in late even after your attempts to coach them, you may address the employee’s behavior through progressive discipline in consultation with HR.  In order to uphold discipline, you must be able to demonstrate that you have provided the employee with the expected standard of arriving at work on-time and warned them that they could be subject to discipline if their behavior continues and that you are consistent in your practices with all employees concerning lateness.

CA Reference: Article 31 – Special Leave 31.02 (b) (c), 31.03 (b) (c)

As a manager, it is important to be supportive and compassionate during this time and understand how to support the employee’s request. Employees who have completed three (3) months of continuous service are eligible for up to three (3) working days off and potentially two (2) travel days where long distances are involved.

CA Reference: Article 31 – Special Leave 31.02 (a)

Family Illness should only be used in cases where the employee is caring for an ill family member. If a child must be taken to the doctor due to illness, then it is appropriate to code Family Illness. If your employee is taking their child to their annual doctor’s appointment, then the Family Illness code is not the correct code. The correct exception time code would be either vacation, CTO or leave without pay.

CA Reference: Article 31 – Special Leave 31.02 (a), 31.0

Family illness is intended to be used for child care only when the employee’s child is ill. If the employee needs time off because their child is off school, they may use other types of leave, including PLD, Vacation, or CTO, which may require advanced approval.

CA Reference: Article 30 – Sick Leave 30.03 (a) (i)-(iv)

• Employees are generally required to request (in advance), all leaves including medical appointments and the Collective Agreement provides that employees must make every effort to schedule medical appointments outside of their regular working hours. Where this is not possible, employees must schedule medical appointments at times which will least interfere with their work. 
• In this type of situation, you may want to ask the employee why they did not ask for the time off earlier, and what efforts they made to schedule the appointment outside of their hours of work. Although we can ask that they try and book the time off to minimize operational impacts, we should not be directing employees to find other physicians or interfere with their medical treatment plans.
• You should be reasonable and balanced with the employee’s request.  Remember there may be exceptional circumstances where employees could ask for Medical Appointment leave on short notice and these circumstances should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

CA Reference: Article 30 – Sick Leave 30.03 (a), 30.05 (e)

• Requesting medical document can be a complex issue for managers and generally arises when an accommodation is required, where misuse of sick time is suspected or to support an extended absence from the workplace. As the manager, you should ensure that all medical documentation is forwarded directly to Staff Wellness.
• Appointment Time – You may request proof of attendance at a medical appointment when you have a good reason to suspect an employee is not being forthright in attending the appointment or good reason to suspect the employee is otherwise misusing appointment time. Absent those circumstances, requesting proof of appointments is not a productive exercise and results in unnecessary expense to the university.
• Illness – A manager may request that an employee provide medical documentation to support absences from the workplace in excess of 5 days, to facilitate accommodation within the workplace or to validate the absence when there is good reason to suspect an employee is misusing sick leave.

CA Reference: Article 9 – Time Off for Union Officers and Members 9.03 (g)

The Collective Agreement outlines the process by which AUPE members are allowed leave for union activities  Employees who are selected as delegates to attend union executive meetings and union conventions must be granted time off without pay, provided they meet the criteria outlined in Article 9. The length of time off varies for union activities. Generally speaking (with some exceptions), no employee is allowed time off in excess of ten (10) working days in one (1) calendar year for union leave.

CA Reference: Article 19 – Overtime

Employees can request that their compensation for overtime be either in pay or compensating time off (CTO) in lieu of overtime pay. Wherever possible, you must grant the employee’s request. In instances where you cannot grant the employee’s request, you need to meet with the employee and explain why.

CA Reference: Article 15 – Discipline 15.03

• The Collective Agreement does not specify what information is required to be included in a written meeting invitation. As a best practice, you should include date, time, location and nature of the meeting (i.e., to discuss an incident that occurred on March 25). When delivering written notice to an employee, you should place the document in a sealed enveloped marked “personal and confidential”.
• If the employee is being asked to attend a disciplinary, investigation or termination meeting, the notice must reference that the employee is entitled to bring a union representative and be given at least 24 hours in advance.

CA Reference: Article 15 – Discipline 15.02

Employees are entitled to a union representative when they are required to attend disciplinary or termination meetings (i.e. probationary termination meetings, abolishment meetings, investigation meetings which may lead to discipline, etc.). However, you should consider allowing an employee to bring their union representation to other meetings (i.e. Attendance Support Program (ASP) meetings and investigation meetings where the employee is a witness). In these instances, the union representative may attend to observe and support the employee but should not interfere with the discussion between the manager and the employee.

CA Reference: Article 15 – Discipline

• The university does not prohibit employees from having other jobs, however the Code of Conduct provides that a “Conflict of Commitment” exists when an employee’s outside employment or activities are adversely affecting their capacity to fulfill their university responsibilities.
• If you are concerned that your employee’s performance is being affected by their other job, you should first approach the employee and discuss your concerns. If you continue to observe that the same pattern of behavior, this is an issue that should be performance managed.

CA Reference: Article 15 – Discipline 15.03

Performance meetings are not disciplinary and the employee does not have the right to bring a union representative to this meeting. Further, there is no requirement to provide advanced notice to employees of these meetings. There may be exceptional situations where you may agree to allow a union representative to attend a performance meeting as an observer only but this should only be done in consultation with the Faculty/Unit assigned HR Partner.  

CA Reference: Article 45 – Salary Increments and Evaluations

In instances where you provide a clear direction for an employee to meet to discuss their performance, and the employee refuses to meet without their union representative, the employee is being insubordinate and can be subject to discipline. You must clearly inform the employee that they are required to attend a meeting to talk about performance and warn them of the potential consequence if they fail to attend.

CA Reference: Article 45 – Salary Increments and Evaluations

• Annual performance reviews are conversations between an employee and their Manager that are not disciplinary in nature. Performance reviews are a continuous process to assist staff in performing to the best of their abilities and enabling them to continuously develop, and integrate individual performance goals and strategies with the unit and university’s strategic plans.
• As a manager, it is important to provide a well-balanced evaluation that indicates the overall performance, areas for improvement and goals for the up-coming year. If an employee does not agree with the performance evaluation, consider their feedback and if appropriate, invite the employee to provide additional written comments to be attached to the review document.  

CA Reference: Article 45 – Salary Increments and Evaluations

Signing the document does not signify that the employee agrees with the content, it simply means you and employee met and reviewed their performance. If an employee refuses to sign, the manager should write the date and the “employee refused to sign” on the document.

CA Reference: Article 17 – Probationary Employee and Period

• The probationary period provides you with an opportunity to assess the full potential, capability and suitability of a new employee. During an employee’s probationary period, you must provide the employee with a fair opportunity to demonstrate suitability in the role, and clearly communicate reasonable standards and expectations. It is also important that you document and make good faith efforts to address an employee’s performance issues during their probationary period.
• You must complete the mid-probation probationary review with the employee at approximately the three (3) month time period. If an employee is demonstrating performance deficiencies, the manager must notify the employee of this in writing.  Ultimately, if you conclude that an employee is unsuitable, you can dismiss the employee during the probationary period.
• You can also consider extending an employee’s probation. You may, in consultation with the Faculty/Unit assigned HR Partner, unilaterally extend the employee’s probationary period by the length of their paid and unpaid absences. You may also advance a request, in consultation with the Faculty/Unit assigned HR Partner, to obtain the union’s agreement to extend the employee’s probationary period for a defined term.

CA Reference: Article 17 – Probationary Employee and Period

You are required to advise your employee (in writing) if their performance is deficient. In instances where a mid-probation review was not done, you should complete the review as soon as possible before any action is taken.