On March 30, 2023, UPE met with the County regarding the above guidance.
The County presented a document to UPE some months ago with regards to how they wish for vacation time to be taken. The idea is to put the program on a quarter system for vacation requests. After reading the guidelines, UPE told the department they should scrap the guidelines. The guidelines are not in line with real life. This would also be a violation of Section 9.1 of the current MOU. Their reason for proposing these guidelines is to increase availability across regions in E.R. We asked, why not model what is being done in the North, since it is working, an availability calendar accessible to all Social Workers. They responded that there has always been availability in the North and more Social Workers in that region. The County said they heard us and would come back at a later date with revamped guidelines. They wish to start implementing this in June 2023, on trial run for a year, but we all know how trials go when instituted by the County.
Thank you to the participants for their advocacy
Sarah Singleton and Eric Booker