BNA - Guild News

Sept. 26, 2003

Guild to BNA: Isabel Was An Emergency!

The Guild has told BNA that Hurricane Isabel was an emergency and no one should suffer a loss because they couldn't get to work during the emergency.

The Guild also has told BNA any essential employees who worked Thursday, September 18th after Paul Wojcik told non-essential employees to go home should be paid time-and-a-half for the remainder of that day.

Confusion has reigned among employees about how to account for their time in the wake of the storm that everybody but BNA seems to have recognized as an emergency.

Broadcast e-mails from the company during the storm said employees who couldn't make it in to work would be charged personal leave. It hasn't said how essential employees required to work on Thursday would be compensated.

Article XII, Section 12 of the contract states that essential employees required to work when other employees are released with pay should be paid time-and-a-half. The same section says anyone who took personal or annual leave because of the emergency should have the time recredited.

The Guild contends that with the federal and local governments shut down, Metro closed, and the region
virtually paralyzed by power outages and trees down, there clearly was an emergency.

A similar situation occurred at the Rockville facility on Monday and Tuesday following the storm. The Rockville office was without power on Monday, so only essential employees were required to work. On Tuesday, the Rockville office was closed early because diesel fumes from a generator were spewing into the building.

The Guild sent a letter to BNA last week to make sure the contract would be honored.

-- Reza Namdar
Unit Chair

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