Local 5621 February 2024 Newsletter

Hello fellow bargaining unit members. As spring and summer are quickly approaching, we would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone regarding the “summer vacation” extended PTO scheduling process. Please take a few minutes to review the following article from your union contract. If you do not have a copy of the contract book, please ask a union representative and or you can pull up a copy on line at https://www.hpae.org/local/local-5621/.

42.5.2 Extended PTO requests. Each year beginning January 2nd through February 28th, Inspira shall accept requests for extended PTO for period from March 15 of the current year to March 14 of the following year. All requests for Extended PTO shall be submitted by the employee on a PTO request form. Space for a 1st week, 2nd week, and 3rd week choice shall be provided. PTO choices will be granted in order of bargaining unit seniority, starting with the employee with the greatest amount of bargaining unit seniority. Every employee’s 1st choice will be considered moving through the entire list of employees, followed by their 2nd choice and then their 3rd choice. The 2nd and 3rd choice will only be considered if the 1st choice cannot be granted. If two or more employees request the same days off then the employee with the greatest bargaining unit seniority will be given their first choice. An employee shall be limited to two weeks of PTO during the time of May 1st to September 15th unless a written request is reviewed by the Director of Nursing and approved by the VP of Patient Care Services. Extended PTO shall not be granted for the time period between December 15th and January 3rd, unless a written request is reviewed by the Director of Nursing, and approved by the VP of Patient Care Services. Inspira shall approve/deny/address all requests for Extended PTO submitted by February 28th no 39 later than March 16th. Such requests shall not be unreasonably denied. A request consisting of more than two consecutive weeks must be approved by the Nursing Director. Request for Extended PTO during the week of a holiday will be considered only after individual holiday commitments have been addressed and will be granted solely on patient needs. Requests for Extended PTO may be made after February 28th and will be considered on a firstcome, first serve basis. Such approval lies within the sole discretion of Inspira based upon patient needs, standards of care, and safe staffing practices.

Although most areas have switched to electronic scheduling, this process requires paper to state your 1st, 2nd and 3rd request. The large calendars hanging in your departments are to help your coworkers know what time you are planning on taking your summer as well as other extended PTO throughout the year. Most departments write all requests in one color, then once a request has been approved they change it to another color so all employees are aware of available days. Each department may have a different amount of staff they will allow off each week, so it is important to speak with your management team to see what the limit is in your area. We are aware that there are new people in management positions therefore Denise Lambrecht has stated she will review this process with leadership.

Once your PTO is approved, please document that on the calendar as it will be helpful to your coworkers who may want to use PTO throughout the year.

Please feel free to contact a union representative and/or LEB member with any questions regarding this process. Please do not use work emails for any union questions or to contact someone regarding a union question. The employee bulletin board by the employee entrance as well as HPAE website listed above has LEB union email addresses as well as cell phone number for LEB and representatives.

In solidarity,

Local 5621 Local Executive Board

President–April Ferrara  april.ferrara5621@gmail.com; 856-693-5273 (8:30a – 9p)
Vice President–Julia Carotenuto-Sutton  jcarotenutosutton5621@gmail.com; 609-221-5564
Treasurer–Monique Parker  parkerm5621@gmail.com, 856-889-1449
Grievance Chair–Tracy Cefaratti (PROCEDURES) tracycef5621@gmail.com; 856-981-0160