Staffing and Scheduling Provisions in a Collective Agreement

Collective agreements in health care often include many different provisions specific to the staffing and scheduling process. Below are some typical provisions, along with some usual guidelines for each. Note that each collective agreement will differ in provisions, and these are just examples of what you may see.

Advance Notice of Scheduling

• How far in advance schedules need to be posted for staff.
• Typical provisions may range from 3 to 6 weeks prior to the start of the schedule and may include specific provisions for holiday-related schedules.

Length of Schedules

• Typical provisions may range from a 4- to 8-week schedule length.

Availability for Part-Time Staff

• Shifts per week: How many shifts per week a part-time staff member must be available for (note: this does not mean that they are scheduled for these). This part-time “commitment” is typically two shifts a week or 22.5 hours per week.
• Weekend requirements: How many weekends a part-time staff member must be available for (typically every other weekend or every third weekend).
• Statutory holiday requirements: How many statutory holidays a part-time staff member must be available for. (Note: Some collective agreements may state explicitly that a member must be available to work either Christmas or New Years and state a minimum number of consecutive days off during this period).
• Note: shifts may be termed “tours”

Scheduling for Full-Time Staff

• Number of hours in a full-time schedule (typically 37.5 hours per week).
• Requirements for shift work-typically, full time staff working traditional 8-hour shifts (days, evenings, nights) are only scheduled for two of the types of shifts.
• Weekend requirements: how many weekends a part-time staff member must be available for (typically every other weekend or every third weekend).
• Statutory holiday requirements: How many statutory holidays a full-time staff member must be available for. (Note: Some collective agreements may state explicitly that a member must be available to work either Christmas or New Year’s and state a minimum number of consecutive days off during this period.)

Provisions for Overtime (OT)

• When overtime starts in a pay period or week (typically more than 75 hours in a 2-week pay period).
• When overtime occurs in a day (typically when regularly scheduled full shift is exceeded, such as asked to work a double shift or asked to work 12 hours when scheduled for an 8-hour shift). A short grace period may be applied before OT starts, such as a 15-minute reporting time window.
• Who is offered premium hours first. Typically, OT is offered by seniority in the following order:
  • Full-time employees
  • Part-time employees
  • Casual part-time employees

Order of Cancellation of Shifts

• Which employees are cancelled first.
• Typically, staff is cancelled in this order:
  • Casual part-time employees
  • Part-time employees
  • Full-time employees
  • Note that in some contracts, part-time and full-time workers may have the opportunity to volunteer for cancellation prior to cancellation of staff.
• The least senior staff member scheduled for that shift in that job category would be cancelled first.
  • For example, the least senior casual employee would be cancelled first. If there are no casual employees working, then the least senior part-time would be cancelled.

Time Parameters for Shift Cancellation

• There are large differences in parameters for cancellation across collective agreements.
• ONA’s collective agreements provide the most protection for RNs, providing them with the following:
  • Part-time RNs: 24-hour notice requirement for cancellation
  • Full-time RNs: 48-hour notice requirement for cancellation
• It is not uncommon for cancellation notice to be 4 to 12 hours for other job categories. If an employee is not cancelled within that period, they are provided with 4 hours of work at their regular pay and then sent home.

Bumping Rights

• Provisions for an employee who is cancelled for a scheduled shift to displace (“Bump”) a less senior employee for that same shift.
• An employee may only bump another employee with the same qualifications and job status.
  • For example, if a part-time RPN is cancelled for a day shift on Saturday, they may bump the least senior part-time RPN working in another unit in the hospital for a day shift on Saturday.

Time Between Shifts

• Minimum time requirements between the end of a shift and the start of the next scheduled shift.
• Typically, the requirement is 12 hours between shifts, however, longer requirements may be mandated when switching from night shifts to days.

Process for Calling in Sick and Returning to Work

• Time parameters associated with sick calls.
• Some contracts may outline recommended time periods to call in sick by, for example, a minimum of 4 hours prior to the start of a shift, but also acknowledge that this may not be possible.
• Most contracts also specify a minimum reporting period for return to work, for example:
  • By 1:00 p.m. the day prior to a day shift.
  • By 9:00 a.m. the day of an evening shift.
  • By 11:00 a.m. the day of a night shift.

Process for the Assignment of Additional Shifts

• Guidelines for how additional shifts will be assigned after the schedule has been posted. These are typically due to staff illness, unfilled needs, or an increase in patient acuity.
• Shifts are typically offered by seniority in this order:
  • Regular part-time: Most senior part-time staff member available to work at straight time (no overtime or short shifting), then
  • Casual part-time: Most senior casual part-time staff member available to work at straight time (no overtime or short shifting)
  • Full-time: Finally, most senior full-time. Note: full-time are asked last, as they are already assigned full-time hours. Any additional hours will result in overtime.

• Collective agreement provisions vary between bargaining units, however, there are often provisions such as:
  • Requirement for part-time staff members who were not assigned the minimum commitment to be offered shift first.
  • Requirement for staff members to indicate availability prior to shifts.
  • Time periods to allow a staff member to respond before offering to the next staff member. These are often outlined according to the window before the shift starts, for example:

“Shifts commencing within one (1) to eight (8) hours: The first employee eligible to be called for the shift will be given five (5) minutes to respond before the Hospital proceeds down the availability list.”

(Ontario Nurses Association and Grand River Hospital Corporation, 2023., pp. 12., para. 1).

Shift Premiums

• Additional stipends to regular wages based upon when shifts are scheduled, which typically include:
  • Evening premiums: Paid for all hours between 1500-2300
  • Night premiums: Paid for all hours between 2300-0700
  • Weekend premiums: Paid for all hours worked between 2300 hours Friday and 2300 hours Sunday
  • On-call premiums: Paid for all hours that a staff member is assigned on-call duties (typically overnight, weekends, or holidays)
  • Charge premiums: Paid for all hours that a nurse is assigned the clinical resource nurse/charge nurse duties in a shift

Bereavement Leave

• Provisions for paid time off resulting from the death of a family member.
• Typical provisions may allow for an employee’s paid absence from their next 3 to 5 booked shifts.

References

Ontario Nurses Association and Grand River Hospital Corporation. (2023). Local appendices to the collective agreement: April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023.

Attributions

“Photo Of Woman Resting On The Couch” by Cedric Fauntleroy; used under the Pexels license.