Date:

January 18, 2008

To:

Professional / Managerial Staff; PDAD&C

From:

Christina Sass-Kortsak, Assistant Vice-President, Human Resources

Re:

Announcing Personal Leave Guidelines for Professionals/Managers

The Hours of Work policy [3.01.07(a)] for Professionals/Managers has generated a number of questions concerning entitlement to paid time off for personal reasons for Professional/Managerial staff.

The Hours of Work policy does not quantify a defined entitlement to personal leave and as a result, we have heard through our divisional HR Offices and through the members of the P/M Advisory Committees that there are multiple interpretations of the policy ranging from no entitlement to an open-ended entitlement for Professionals/Managers.

In response to this and to support a more consistent practice across the Professional/Managerial group, we have developed a set of Guidelines to assist Professionals/Managers and their supervisors in managing paid time off for personal reasons. Please begin to use these Guidelines now. A copy of the Guidelines may be found here on the HR & Equity website. The Hours of Work policy remains unchanged.

Please note that the HRIS Absence Tracking System includes absence codes for the types of personal leave covered in the new Guidelines and are available to be used.

If you have any questions concerning the new Guidelines or the Hours of Work policy, please contact your Divisional HR Office.

Please note that at the same time, we will be putting forward recommendations to revise the following policies for Confidential staff: Paternity/Same-Sex Partner Leave and Bereavement Leave, to provide entitlements consistent with those available to Professionals/Managers and those provided for under the USW collective agreement.

Please ensure that staff in your area who don’t receive this memo but should be aware of this information for job-related reasons are provided with a copy.