Agreement means casual employees and BECEs of Alberta Health Services may now bank overtime

Effective March 1, casual employees and benefit eligible casual employees (BECEs) of Alberta Health Services will be permitted to bank overtime. 

A memorandum of settlement signed by representatives of United Nurses of Alberta and AHS on February 12 ended the practice by AHS of denying casuals and BECEs the ability to bank overtime.

The settlement was reached after UNA filed a provincial grievance about the practice. The grievance dates back to 2016, when a similar grievance was filed on behalf of a single employee.

The settlement applies to all AHS casual employees as defined under Article 2.04 (b) of the Provincial Collective Agreement.

The settlement specifically includes BECEs as defined by Letter of Understanding No. 7, Recruitment and Retention Initiatives, attached to the collective agreement.

As a result, effective March 1, the employer’s payroll system will be reconfigured to permit casual employees and BECEs to accumulate overtime.

The Memorandum of Settlement also includes the following provisions:

• Overtime accumulated by regular and temporary employees shall be paid out on a transfer to Casual status unless otherwise requested by the employee.
• Overtime accumulated by casual employees may only be taken as time off in lieu on days where the Casual employee has not consented to work.
• Accumulated overtime shall be paid out at the request of the employee or by March 31 in any year in accordance with Article 8.01 (c) of the collective agreement.
• Employees requesting an overtime payout shall do so using ePeople.
• Overtime payout requests are subject to AHS payroll processes including cut-off dates and pay periods.