May 24th: Update to Membership
New Collective Agreement: Frequently Asked Questions
SAFA knows that members have questions about how the new Collection Agreement changes your work at SAIT, so we will be running a series of FAQs on the most common questions we receive. If you would like to know more about a topic related to the new CA, send your suggestions to [email protected].
Salaried Members Vacation FAQ
The new collective agreement moves the vacation year back to July 1 – June 30. Do I earn vacation for May and June 2022?
No, for salaried members, SAIT will be forward depositing your full vacation entitlement on July 1, 2022.
Due to an error on SAIT’s part last May 2021, members have already received all the vacation days allowed by the Collective Agreement:
- In March through June 2020, all SAFA members were scheduled to take their banked, accrued Annual Leave (calculated to June 30, 2020).
- On July 1, 2020, 43 vacation days (for the period until June 30, 2021) were added to each faculty member’s vacation balance (or equivalent for librarians).
- Then, in May 2021, a new LOU was signed with a change in the vacation year so that it started in May. But SAIT made an error in deposited amounts that resulted in a 12-month allocation when only 10 month allocation should have occurred.
- Now SAIT is making a deposit on July 1, 2022, of your full vacation entitlement (43 days for faculty members). Because of the error in May 2021 that resulted in double vacation for May-June 2021, there is no need to deposit for May 1, 2022, as it is already in the SAFA members vacation balance.
If you currently have a zero-vacation balance, you can still go on vacation in May / June 2022 by going into a deficit vacation balance. This deficit will be corrected July 1, 2022, when another 43 vacation days are deposited in your vacation bank.
What if I’m a new hire whose start date is after July 1, 2021? Are there any different issues with my vacation allocation? Yes, new hires should review their vacation balance to determine if their time was calculated to April 30, 2022, or June 30, 2022. (A reminder, the past collective agreement in Section 32.01 stated, “when employment has commenced on or after the sixteenth day of any month, vacation entitlements shall be earned from the first day of the following month”). If you were hired after May 1, 2021, and you believe your vacation was only calculated to April 2022, contact employee services immediately. You may be owed additional time.
Scenario: Ahmad was hired on January 16, 2022, as a faculty member. He checks his vacation bank and he received 10.5 days in his bank when he was hired. Should Ahmad receive additional vacation allotment for May 2021 and June 2021? Since Ahmad was hired after the 15th of the month, his vacation was calculated for February 2022 through April 2022 (3 months). 3 months*3.5 vacation days/month = 10.5 days in total. Ahmad has not been overallocated days and he should be allocated an additional 7 vacation days for May and June 2022.
With the change from 40 hours per work week to 37.5 hours per work week for faculty, will I lose any vacation days? No, the collective agreement has always referenced “forty-three (43) work days of vacation”. However, historically SAIT had credited your vacation bank with “hours” of vacation based on an 8-hour day. This practice will be corrected, and SAIT will, on a go-forward basis from July 1, 2022, only use vacation “days”. Your existing hours – whatever you have in your vacation bank as of June 30, 2022 – will be calculated as “days” of vacation with no loss of vacation time.
After July 1, 2022, you will record any vacation you take in a “days of vacation” format – i.e., half a day would be recorded as 0.5 day of vacation. Vacation will no longer be recorded in an “hour” format.
What if I have vacation left at the end of this vacation year (June 30, 2022) – will SAIT deposit less than my full amount for next year? No, you will always receive your full allotment (i.e., 43 days for faculty) on July 1, 2022. As well, the collective agreement says that you may carry forward a maximum of 5 vacation days to the next year with no issues. If the carry-over exceeds five days, you do not lose the days but “the Academic Staff member must work with their Academic Chair/Leader to create a plan to ensure the excessive days are taken in the next year” (Section 32.09).
Can SAIT take away my unused vacation days at the end of the year (June 30, 2022)? No, the collective agreement says that you may carry forward a maximum of 5 vacation days to the next year with no issues. If the carry-over exceeds five days, you do not lose the days but “the Academic Staff member must work with their Academic Chair/Leader to create a plan to ensure the excessive days are taken in the next year” (Section 32.09). So, if you have excessive vacation days now, begin planning how you will take that time before July 1, 2023.
Scenario: Marina has 20 days in her vacation bank on June 30, 2022. How much vacation will she have for the 2022/23 year? Marina will still have 20 days plus 43 days will be deposited for a total of 63 days in her vacation bank. Since she is carrying over more than 5 days, she will need to speak with her Academic Chair to schedule when she will take at least 58 days of vacation (43 days + 15 carry over days).
What is the impact on my vacation if I retire or leave SAIT during the year? As stated above, SAIT will be forward depositing your full vacation entitlement (i.e., 43 days for faculty) on July 1, 2022. If you retire or leave SAIT, you will be paid for any “earned but unused” vacation days (Section 32.02). For members with 43 days of vacation, the calculation will be 3.5 vacation days per month. If you are in a deficit situation, you will owe SAIT any “used but unearned” vacation days determined through the same calculation (3.5 vacation days per month).
Scenario: If Tomas retires from his faculty position on September 1, 2022, what happens to his vacation days? Based on a last day of employment of September 1, 2022, Tomas will be entitled to use 3.5 X 2 = 7 vacation days. If he has not taken those days, SAIT will pay him for those days. If he uses more than 7 days of his 2022 / 2023 entitlement and then resigns on September 1, 2022, the extra vacation days that he used will be clawed back.