There have been many questions about when members can use paid special leave; hopefully the following will help explain some of this.

Clause 21.03 Leave for Other Reasons {page 174 of the Urban Collective Agreement} says:

“Where conditions warrant it, special leave with pay may be granted when circumstances not directly attributable to the employee, including but not limited to illness in the immediate family, as decided in clause 21.02, prevent his or her reporting for duty.
Such leave will not be unreasonably withheld. An employee can only be granted leave with pay under this clause once he or she has exhausted all of his or her Personal Days.”

If you have used all of your personal days and are being prevented from reporting to duty due to circumstances not directly attributable to you, you can apply for paid special leave in accordance with the clauses outlined above. When applying for paid special leave, Canada Post will provide you with an application form/questionnaire that you must complete and submit along with any documents which support your request. While the questions on these forms can seem intrusive, sufficient information/evidence must be provided to substantiate your request.

There have been many arbitration decisions concerning the use of paid special leave over the years, and generally, they say that:

1. An employee must make a reasonable effort to report to work including making other arrangements to be able to report to work.
2. The employer must make proper inquiries and consider the request.

In other words, if it is established that there was a circumstance not directly attributable to the member that prevented them from reporting to work, an arbitrator would apply a two-pronged test that would look at the evidence to determine whether the member made a reasonable attempt to report to work, and whether Canada Post properly investigated and considered the request.

If you have applied for paid special leave but were denied, you should contact a shop steward in your work location or your Local Union office to enquire about submitting a grievance. If you are to submit a grievance, you must supply the following to support it:

1. A copy of the application form/questionnaire that you completed and submitted to Canada Post
2. Copies of any documents provided in support of your request (such as: medical certificates if due to illness in the immediate family, weather reports if related to weather conditions, documents showing attempts to make other arrangements to be able to report to work, etc.)
3. A statement outlining the reason(s) for the leave request, the attempts made, and any conversations with Canada Post representatives regarding the leave request

While Canada Post supervisors may try to say that because of personal days we no longer have special leave, this is not true. Once you have exhausted your personal days, you are entitled to apply for paid special leave.

In Solidarity,

Vancouver local .