Personnel Policy:
1. Lines of Authority:
a) Employees report to and receive direction from the Chairperson of the Personnel Committee (employee supervisor).
b) The Chairperson reports to and receives direction from the Personnel Committee, a standing of the Board, who in turn report to the Board of Directors and general membership.
2. Hours of Work:
a) Normal working hours and office hours are outlined in each employee’s individual contract and are consistent with the job description.
b) Any overtime is to be verbally approved by two Executive Board Members to a maximum of 16 allowable banked hours at any time, and 8 hours to be credited or debited each month.
3. Salary:
a) Basis of Increases: Evaluation of employees shall take place yearly prior to budget preparation and increases may be based on merit, cost of living increases (C.O.L.A.) and the financial stability of the Co-op.
b) Approval of Increases: Salary increases shall be negotiated by the Personnel Committee in consultation with the Finance Committee, and ratified by the Board.
c) Timing of Increases: Salary increases shall normally take effect on the budget fiscal year July 1st of each year, and shall be negotiated, and approved by the Board prior to the annual budget approval.
4. Benefits:
a) Vacation: Employees must have worked for the Co-op for one year before being eligible for vacation leave. At the discretion of the Personnel Committee Chairperson, accrued holidays may be advanced after 6 months of employment.
Vacation time is accumulated at the following rate:
1-7 years employment - 3 weeks/year
8-15 years employment - 4 weeks/year
After 16 years - 5 weeks/year
Five days (5) of vacation time may be carried forward to the following year.
Any unused vacation at the end of the second year will be forfeited by the
employee.
Vacation leave must be approved by the Personnel Committee Chairperson
keeping in mind that normal office hours must be maintained and adequate
provision made for administrative and maintenance coverage throughout the holiday season.
Employees terminating employment before the end of the calendar year who have not received their vacations will be paid in lieu of the unused vacation.
b) Sick Leave: Each permanent employee will accumulate sick leave at a rate of
1 ¼ days for every full working month to a maximum of 30 days. After three continuous days of sick leave, a Doctor’s certificate will be required.
c) Health and Accident Insurance: All employees shall be covered by Workers’ Compensation.
d) Statutory Holidays: The following shall be observed as holidays without any loss of pay.
New Year’s Day Good Friday Easter Monday
Victoria Day Canada Day August Civic Holiday
Labour Day Thanksgiving Day Remembrance Day
Christmas Day Boxing Day
e) Education: The Co-op encourages the continuing education of our employees in the co-operative field and will, on recommendation of the Personnel Committee, pay the cost of tuition and expenses for courses in this area, taking into consideration the financial stability of the co-operative. Specialized courses approved by the Board, where such courses are highly desirable and where training takes place on company time, will be paid for either on a cost-sharing basis or in full at the discretion of the Board.
5. Leaves of Absence:
a) Authority for Leaves: Leaves for bereavement, compassionate, and jury duty may be approved by the Chairperson of the Personnel Committee. Personal leaves of absence without pay for periods of up to 3 months may, for valid reasons, be granted to any employee by the Personnel Committee Chairperson upon the approval of the Board, providing satisfactory arrangements can be made for the performance of his/her work during the absence. Failure to notify required days off will not be tolerated. Further clarification follows:
1) Bereavement/Compassionate Leave: Special leave of absence with pay to a maximum of three days may, in emergency cases, be granted. Such emergencies shall include death, serious accident or illness in the employee’s immediate family (usually mother, father, husband, wife, child, brother, sister). Any additional compassionate leave taken because of death or critical illness in the employee’s immediate family will either be unpaid leave or charged to vacation credits.
2) Jury Duty: Employees selected for jury duty will receive full payment for the period during which they are required to serve and any remuneration will be retained by the employee.
3) Maternity Leave: Maternity leave will be granted according to current Government Standards.
4) Absence Without Pay: An absence without pay will be granted by the Board to employees with at least six months of continuous permanent employment. The total leave of absence granted may extend up to but will not exceed a period of six months. A permanent employee granted leave of absence without pay shall be re-instated in the position in which he/she was employed prior to going on leave. However, should his/her position be abolished during his/her absence, he/she shall be subject to lay-off applicable as had he/she been occupying the position at the time of its abolition.
5) Other Leaves: Other leaves will be considered on a case-by-case basis when requested and will normally not exceed three months. Any permanent employee requesting an “absence without pay” leave will be reinstated as set out in point 4, above.
b) Status of Benefits During Leave: Benefits will continue, at the expenses of the Co-op, during all paid leaves. Benefits will continue, at the expenses of the Co-op, during unpaid leaves and temporary lay-offs not exceeding one month in duration. For unpaid leaves exceeding one month of duration, the employee can continue appropriate benefits by reimbursing the Co-op for the expenses.
6. Performance Evaluation:
a) Timing of Evaluations: Each employee will be evaluated annually, prior to budget preparation. New employees will be evaluated prior to the end of their probation period.
b) Responsibility for Evaluations: Employees will be evaluated by the Personnel Committee, which in turn answers to the Board and general membership.
7. Termination of Employment:
a) Grounds for Termination: Not withstanding any contract or agreement between the Co-op and the employee, certain offences will be considered just cause for immediate suspension of employment. These include but are not limited to the following: theft, disorderly conduct during business hours, damage of Co-op equipment or property through negligence, and the willful exceeding of authority, misrepresentation of policy, Charter of By-Laws, and Ordinary By-Laws of the Co-op.
b) Authority to Terminate: Termination of permanent employees is the sole responsibility of the Board of Directors in consultation with the Personnel Committee. Termination of temporary employees under the direction of other staff members is the responsibility of the Personnel Committee (to be ratified by the Board of Directors beforehand).
c) Notice Period: Those employees whose positions are covered by contract shall be terminated under the guidelines set down in the contract. Employees not under contract will be governed by the Labour Relations Act of the Province of Saskatchewan. No notice is required for gross misconduct as outlined above.
8. Grievances:
a) Grievances: Grievances filed by employees will be dealt with as described in “Addendum A - Staff Grievance Procedure”.
b) Claims of Harassment: Claims of harassment filed by employees will be dealt with as described in “Addendum B – Harassment Policy for Personnel”.
9. Personnel Records:
a) Co-op Access: Personnel records may only be accessed by the Personnel Committee, the auditor, and upon written request and approval of the Board, a Director may examine the personnel records.
b) Employee Access: Employees may review their own files upon request in the presence of a representative of the Personnel Committee.
c) File Storage: Files will be stored in a secure place with access controlled by the Personnel Chairperson (as staff supervisor) and one other person on the Personnel Committee (as backup).
10. Definitions:
c) Full-time: Employees hired to work a normal 40-hour work week.
d) Part-Time: Employees hired to work less that 40 hours per week.
e) Permanent: Employees whose employment is expected to continue for an indefinite period.
f) Temporary: Employees hired for a period of six months or less; temporary employees are not eligible for employee benefits.
g) Probationary: All new employees are considered probationary for the first three months of employment and an evaluation will be conducted after three months at which time the employee benefits will commence. The probationary period may be extended to a total of six months, at which time another evaluation will be conducted.
Rainbow Housing Co-operative
Staff Grievance Procedure
Addendum A to Personnel Policy
A staff grievance is defined as follows:
a) any difference relating to the interpretation, application, administration or alleged violation of any provision of any personnel policy of the Co-op; OR
b) any complaint by an employee respecting a working condition which is allegedly interfering with his or her ability to perform his or her duties.
1. General:
A grievance shall be in writing and shall include:
a) the griever’s name and position;
b) the date of the event giving rise to the grievance;
c) the nature of the grievance;
d) the provision(s) alleged to have been violated; and
e) the remedy sought.
2. Procedure:
For the purpose of this procedure, “day” means any day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday as listed in the current benefits package.
STEP 1:
a) A grievance must be submitted by the employee to his or her immediate supervisor within ten (10) days from the time the employee knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, of the event allegedly giving rise to the grievance.
b) The supervisor shall render a decision in writing within five (5) days of receipt of the grievance and shall sign and date the grievance form.
a) When the grievance has not been settled at STEP 1, it may be submitted to the Personnel Committee within ten (10) days of the conclusion of STEP 1.
b) The Personnel Committee shall meet with the griever and other parties as necessary, and shall render a decision in writing within fifteen (15) days of being advised of the grievance.
a) When the grievance has not been settled at STEP 2, it may be submitted to the Board of Directors within ten (10) days of the conclusion of STEP 2.
b) The Board of Directors shall meet with the griever and other parties as necessary. The Board shall furnish the griever, within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the grievance, with a written statement of the resultant grievance settlement or, if no settlement has been achieved, of the Co-operative’s final position.
3. Time Limits:
a) If the Co-operative fails to respond to a grievance, or if it is not settled within the prescribed time limits, the griever may proceed immediately to the next Step. The time limits specified may be extended only by mutual agreement.
b) Any grievance not submitted within the prescribed time limits shall be deemed to have been abandoned and may not be reopened.
4. Arbitration:
a) When a grievance is still unresolved after the grievance procedure has been exhausted, it may be referred to an Arbitration Committee.
b) Arbitration proceedings may be instituted by written notice by the employee within fifteen (15) days of the conclusion of STEP 3 of the grievance procedure. The notice shall state the matter at issue and the nature of the relief or remedy sought.
c) The employee instituting the arbitration proceedings shall, in the notice, state the name of its appointee to the Arbitration Committee. The Co-op shall, within ten (10) days, advise the employee of the name of its appointee to the Arbitration Committee. The two appointees so named shall, within five (5) days of the appointment of the second of them, appoint a third person who shall be the Chair.
d) Each party shall pay the fees and expenses of its own appointee and one-half the fees and expenses of the Chair. In addition, each party shall bear all expenses incurred by it whether of witnesses, the attendance of witnesses and representatives, exhibits or otherwise.
The decision of the Arbitration Committee shall be final and binding on the parties. The
decision of the majority shall be the decision of the Arbitration Committee, but if there is
no majority decision, the decision of the Chairman shall govern.
Copied from:
Co-operative Housing Foundation of Canada
November 1980
Harassment Policy for Personnel
Addendum B to Personnel Policy
1. Definition:
"Harassment" means any objectionable conduct, comment or display by a person that:
(i) is directed at a worker;
(ii) is made on the basis of race, creed, religion, colour, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability, physical size or weight, age, nationality, ancestry or place of origin; and
(iii) constitutes a threat to the health or safety of the worker.
2. Employee right:
Every worker is entitled to a working environment that is free of harassment.
3. Rainbow Housing’s obligation:
The Personnel Committee for Rainbow Housing Co-operative will ensure that no worker is subjected to harassment at this place of employment.
4. Employee obligation:
No worker shall cause or participate in the harassment of another worker.
5. Procedure for dealing with harassment concerns:
All complaints will be taken seriously. The rights of all concerned will be respected. Workers are encouraged to use these steps to address incidents of alleged harassment internally.
5.1. A worker who believes that he or she has been subjected to harassment is encouraged to first clearly and firmly make known to the alleged harasser that the harassment is objectionable and must stop.
5.2. Where this cannot be done, or is unsuccessful, the worker should report the alleged harassment to the Personnel Committee Chair or to the Board Liaison to the Personnel Committee.
5.4. Once the Personnel Committee Chair or the liaison receives a complaint, that person shall immediately bring the complaint to the attention of the Personnel Committee.
5.5. The Personnel Committee will notify the alleged harasser of the complaint, provide the alleged harasser with information concerning the circumstances of the complaint, and undertake a confidential investigation.
5.6. Following the conclusion of the investigation, the Personnel Committee will inform the complainant and the alleged harasser of the results of the investigation.
6. Resolution and corrective action:
Where harassment has been substantiated, the Personnel Committee will take appropriate corrective action to resolve the complaint. Where harassment has not been substantiated, no action will be taken against a worker who has made a complaint in good faith.
7. Confidentiality:
This Personnel Committee will not disclose the identity of the worker or the circumstances of the complaint, except where disclosure is necessary for the purposes of investigating or taking disciplinary action in relation to the complaint, or where such disclosure is required by law.