File for holiday pay

Grievances pour in over mandatory work on Columbus Day

Updated Oct. 12, 2009
Thousands of state employees who were ordered to work on their Columbus Day holiday began filing grievances for the holiday premium pay they are now owed.
 
“Any employee who received a notice from their department or DPA or who were told by their supervisor that they had to work are entitled to holiday pay,” said Paul Harris, Local 1000 chief counsel. “We will seek full compensation for each employee who files a grievance.”

Article 7.1.G of our collective bargaining agreement guarantees employees one and one-half times their normal pay, plus eight hours holiday credit for any holiday they are required to work. Under Government Code 3517.8 that contract is still in effect and supersedes a change in state law passed by the Legislature in February.

“State law was broken and our contract was violated when thousands of our members were forced to work on Columbus Day,” said Yvonne Walker, Local 1000 president. “The governor and his managers are not above the law—we will hold them accountable and demand that employees receive the full holiday pay and credit they are guaranteed by our contract.”

Marie Harder passed out grievance forms at lunch to many of her coworkers at the Department of Public Health. “We are all entitled to holiday pay today because our supervisors told us we would be AWOL. I’m not going to let the governor take away our holiday illegally. We all need to fight back,” she said.

Employees must file a grievance in order to receive holiday pay and credit. Grievance forms and assistance are available from Local 1000 job stewards and union representatives. Check the union bulletin board at your worksite or call the nearest Local 1000 office for the name of the steward or union representative for your workplace.

In order to make a stronger case for holiday pay, state employees need to prove that they worked on Columbus Day. Any memos from supervisors ordering employees to come to work that day will be helpful to Local 1000’s legal team.