tea » tea times: March 17, 2003 email: teaseattle  

T E A

T i m e s


March 17, 2003

March Meeting Schedule

Mar. 17 Contract Negotiating Team, 12-1pm
Mar. 18 TEA Business Meeting (King St. Center, 5F), 12-1pm
Mar. 19 TEA Regular Meeting (Elliott Bay Café), 12-1pm
   
Mar. 24 Contract Negotiating Team, 12-1pm
Mar. 25 TEA Business Meeting (King St. Center, 5F), 12-1pm

March 19 Meeting Agenda

  • Status of Contract Negotiations
  • Treasurer’s Report
  • Financial Plan Update
  • Bylaw Amendment – Grievance Process – Preliminary Report
  • Q&A

Special Vacation Pay

At the February TEA meeting on 2/19/03, TEA members in the WTD voted to accept King County’s proposed medical benefit package in exchange for 5 days of vacation. The County has now added the leave hours to our vacation balance. All WTD members should verify the additional 40 hours of leave on their pay stub.

King County has set up a special Time Recording Code (TRC) and developed written guidelines for the use of this special leave.
In accordance with the TEA MOU (Memorandum of Agreement) signed Feb 20, 2003, employees represented by TEA are eligible for a one-time benefit of 5 days of additional vacation leave.

To process this time we have created one new Time Reporting Code: TRC 225

  1. The amount of hours each employee in these groups will receive is based on an employee’s Standard Work Hours. Meaning an employee whose standard hours are 40 hours/week, will have 40 hours loaded. An employee with a standard workweek of 36 hours will have 36 hours loaded.
  2. Hours will be loaded into the employees’ Vacation Leave Balance on PPE 2/28/03 (showing on their pay stub dated 3/13/03).
  3. This one-time load will be listed on the pay stub with the Earncode VSA [Vacation Special Adjustment].
  4. To use this Vacation Special Leave, the TRC 225 should be used on the timesheet.
  5. These specific 5 days of leave are required to be used before the date 1/1/04. Any excess hours not used will be removed from the employee’s balance.
  6. This leave is to be treated just like the employee’s regular vacation leave. This leave is eligible for pay down as well as for leave donation. (Please have employee complete the required paperwork to request these two options if needed).
For timesheet entry:
When requesting time off using this leave, the employee should complete their timesheet using TRC 225. This time can be used under the same rules governing vacation, meaning:
  1. If the employee is NON-EXEMPT, the employee can use this time in partial day increments, or hours up to the amount of hours for their whole workday (i.e. 8 hours, 10 hours, etc.).
  2. If the employee is EXEMPT, the employee, when using this leave, must account for the entire day using this leave.
If you have any questions regarding the use of this TRC 225, please contact:
Grey Lewis
Functional Analyst 3
Payroll and Benefits Operations
Email: grey.lewis@metrokc.gov
Ph: 206-684-2125

New Policy for Part-Time Work Schedules

King County has adopted a new policy for part time employees effective February 5, 2003 that attempts to standardize the options for part time schedules as follows:
  • 0.5 FTE (or 20 hours per workweek)
  • 0.6 FTE (or 24 hours per workweek)
  • 0.75 FTE (or 30 hours per workweek)
  • 0.8 FTE (or 32 hours per workweek)
Many TEA members are currently working part time schedules that have been previously approved by their supervisors. These arrangements benefit the employee and the employer and were established prior to the new policy and are considered status quo. Any changes will need to be negotiated with TEA prior to implementation.

If you are currently working a part time schedule and are asked to revise your schedule to comply with the new policy, please notify TEA through your work group representative.