Maintaining job status

Can a member work both casual and full-time?

HEU members are active on social media, often asking questions and sharing information.

Here’s one scenario – with name and occupation changed for privacy – that has come up in discussion, and may be helpful to members in similar situations.

Calista works for a health authority as a casual rehabilitation assistant at an acute care hospital. She likes her job, but she wants to explore other areas of health care.

So she started taking courses to build on her clerical skills.

Calista has applied for permanent, fulltime and part-time positions as a staffing clerk, but is concerned about losing her casual status as a rehabilitation assistant.

She is covered by the Facilities Bargaining Association collective agreement, so there are a few important options to consider.

HEU members can only hold one status with their employer: full-time, part-time or casual.

According to the Casual Addendum 8 (1), a casual employee must work 225 hours over a 12-month period – unless they have a “bona fide” reason [8 (4)], such as one covered by the Human Rights Code – in order to

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Teck Building at BC Children’s and Women’s hospitals would also return.

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Other sites, like cafeteria workers in Fraser Health, have also been brought into the public sector, even though they were not part of the Bill 47 announcement.

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Welcome new members

More than 700 new members have chosen to join HEU since the end of 2022 – Cascade Gardens Seniors Community, Good Neighbours View Royal, Luxton House and Lucas House, Pleasant View Housing Society 1980, Kiwanis House, Kiwanis Garden Manor, Hart House, Stanhope Viewmont House, and Selkirk Place.

We are also welcoming new care aides, LPNs, RNs and support services workers at Royal Arch Masonic Home, Carlton Gardens, Rosewood Manor, AgeCare Malaspina, Laurel Place, and Langley Lodge.

maintain their casual status.

But employers can also use their own discretion to determine if other reasons are accepted – such as schooling – which then becomes subjective and could become grounds for a grievance.

For example: the employer has to prove that they offered Calista 225 hours worth of shifts, based on her submitted availability, and Calista may be required to disclose her reasons for not working.

In Calista’s case, if she accepts the fulltime staffing clerk line, then she’s unable to remain on the rehabilitation assistant casual list. However, she could utilize Article 16.01(c) to accept blocks (less than 90 days) in a rehabilitation assistant vacancy.

If she accepts a part-time position, Calista could pick up extra shifts as a staffing clerk or a rehabilitation assistant, if the employer keeps her on their casual registry.

Full-time is equivalent to working 1,950 hours a year at straight time. Overtime rates would only be applied based on scheduling provisions in the collective agreement. Calista’s employer-based seniority would accrue based on all hours worked.

BRENDA WHITEHALL