Opinion ID: 2576453
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: certified record

Text: Webster is 1 of 20 field representatives employed by the labor union, PSE, who provide contract negotiation and administrative services to PSE's members. CR ¶ 1. [3] The field representatives are themselves part of a collective bargaining unit represented by a union, the Public School Employees Staff Organization (PSESO). CR ¶ 2. A collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated by PSESO and PSE, together with PSE's policies and practices, governs the terms and conditions of the field representatives' employment. Id. The CBA sets the salaries for field representatives and provides that [f]ield employees shall work as necessary to perform assigned duties. Such assigned duties shall be performed as nearly as possible within a forty hour work week, which may include Saturday and Sunday. Id. Webster is generally paid in equal biweekly installments. CR ¶ 3. The number of hours he works varies from week to week, but he has always received his regular biweekly pay with one exception. Id. In August 1994, he was suspended without pay for three days for alleged insubordination. In January 1998, PSE fully reimbursed Webster for all the pay he lost as a result of the suspension. Id. Other than the 1994 suspension, there have not been any other deductions from Webster's biweekly pay. CR ¶ 4. There also is no evidence that any other PSE employee was ever suspended without pay for less than one week. Id. Per the CBA, field representatives accrue sick leave and vacation time on a monthly basis which is tracked in separate leave banks. CR ¶ 5. When employees use sick leave or vacation time, they report the amount of leave used on their weekly time and expense reports. Id. The amount of leave reported is then deducted from the appropriate leave bank, and employees receive monthly reports from PSE providing running totals of how much leave they have accrued, how much they have used, and how much they still have available. Id. Under certain circumstances and on certain occasions, the CBA allows employees to cash out accrued but unused sick leave and vacation time. Id. Prior to September 2000, PSE required employees, including field representatives, to use sick leave and vacation time in partial day increments to account for their time during normal business hours ( i.e., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday). CR ¶ 6. PSE would then deduct from the employee leave banks in partial day increments. Id. Consistent with then-existing policy, Webster was required to and sometimes did use and report sick leave and vacation leave in partial day increments. CR ¶ 7. Webster had 79 partial-day deductions from his leave banks. Id. If Webster failed to account for his time during normal business hours, PSE wrote in and/or deducted the missing hours from his sick leave or vacation time accounts for him. Id. Throughout his employment at PSE, Webster has used and reported sick leave only when he has actually been ill or attending to a family member who needed care. CR ¶ 8. Webster has also used and reported vacation time only when he has taken time off work and engaged in nonwork related activities. Id. Webster would not have reported vacation time in partial-day increments or in weeks where he had already worked 40 hours, however, except for PSE's requirement that he be available for work and account for his time, 8 hours a day, five days a week, Monday through Friday. Id. Webster has been orally warned and criticized for not recording sick leave and vacation time, including partial-day increments, as required by PSE policies. Id. Webster testified that sometimes he worked less than 40 hours per week because his assignment was light and he did not have any pressing work to do. Id. PSE does expect field representatives, such as Webster, to generally be available for work during normal business hours (i.e., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday). CR ¶ 10. From time to time, PSE has issued oral and written directives to employees in this regard. Id. If the employee is not available during these expected times, PSE expects the employee to report sick leave or vacation time. Id. Field representatives are not held to an exact starting or ending time and may self-schedule meal and rest breaks. Id. If duties require significant work time during evenings or weekends, the employee may, with agreement of his or her supervisor, take time off during the normal workweek without being required to use accrued leave. Id. No one at PSE has ever told Webster that if he fails to work a certain number of hours in a week and does not use his leave to make up the difference, his salary will be docked. CR ¶ 9. The district court does not know what would have happened if an employee who had run out of accrued leave had reported less than 8 hours of work in a particular day and/or 40 hours of work in a particular week. Id.