December 2019

Welcome to the first monthly newsletter for the M&P Association!

In these newsletters, we'll be covering important topical and timely information, upcoming events, meetings, minutes, and any other info that you need in order to succeed!

At the December Board meeting, we appointed Sam Faggiano to the vacant Director seat left when Samantha Johnson was appointed Vice President. Sam brings with him years of legal and board experience, and is an M&P A member.

If you have any questions about any of the info contained in the newsletter or you have any questions about M&P, or if you just wanna grab a cup of coffee and chat about being in a committee, a potential issue, or whatever else, please feel free to reach out to me or any of the other Board members.

Have a great Holiday month and we'll see you in the new year!!

Autumn Reed, M&P Secretary
 
City Hall Closures: 
 
City Hall will be closed to the public at noon (12:00 pm) on both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Employees can choose to use their vacation, personal leave, or floating holiday banks to take those afternoons off or employees can choose to work even though the building is closed.
 
As a salaried M&P employee, you may request partial leave time (up to four hours). In order to use partial leave for the day, you must work at least four hours in that same day. You must obtain Supervisor approval prior to 12/24 and 12/31 to receive partial leave time. The partial leave, if approved, would not come out of any of your leave banks. Partial leave days are not applicable to hourly employees.

You can request partial leave days through Peoplesoft. Each department handles partial leave days differently. Please see your Supervisor for instructions.
 
 
Rehn & Associates FSA Benefits Cards
 
Only brand new participants will receive new cards. Existing participants will use their existing cards, and the new funds will be loaded to those cards. The current cards have a three (3) year expiration date, so as long as participants enroll each year, they will use that card. The month of expiration of the card, Visa will automatically send out cards with new expiration, and their current cards will work until the end of the expiration month.
 
Annual Health Risk Assessment

The $30.00 monthly fee for calendar year 2020 will be waived for M&P staff.
 
 
If you are a member who has opted-in, don't forget to sign up for an M&P email address (@spokanecitymp.org). Anything sent on the city servers or to and from your City email account (@spokanecity.org) is subject to public records requests. You can register here. Someone will verify your membership status and grant you access, if applicable.
 
You can invoke your Weingarten rights at any point your Supervisor, Manager, or Director seeks to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline.
 

A bargaining unit employee has the legal right to be represented by its union at an investigatory interview with his or her supervisor when the employee reasonably believes that the interview may lead to a disciplinary action.

The rights of unionized employees to the presence of union representatives during investigatory interviews was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 in NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc. Since the employee was being investigated by the Weingarten Company, these rights have become known as Weingarten Rights.

 

An investigatory interview occurs when an employer questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline. If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has a right to request union representation.

Weingarten Rules

 

RULE 1

The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making this request.

RULE 2

After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options. The employer must:

Grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and has a chance to consult privately with the employee; or
Deny the request and end the interview immediately; or
Give the employee a choice of:
(1) having the interview without representation or
(2) ending the interview.

RULE 3

If the supervisor denies the request for union representation and continues to ask questions, he or she commits an unfair labor practice and the employee has the right to refuse to answer. The supervisor cannot discipline the employee for such a refusal.

KNOW THE LIMITS

Just as it’s important to know what your Weingarten rights are, it is also important to know the limits.

 

Workers are not entitled to have a representative present every time a supervisor wants to talk to them.  If the discussion begins to change into questioning that could lead to discipline, employees have the right to ask for representation before the conversation goes any further. If you are called into the supervisor’s office for an investigation, you can’t refuse to go without your representative. All you can do is refuse to answer questions until your union representative gets there and you’ve had a chance to talk things over with them.

For more info, please visit https://www.umass.edu/usa/weingarten.htm
 
Have an idea for the newsletter? Drop me a line at areed@spokanecitymp.org