Denied your cost savings days? OCB wants to hear about it!

July 21, 2010 - Were you prevented by your employer from taking any of your 10 required cost savings days? If so, you are encouraged to fill out a form that notifies the Office of Collective Bargaining of the denial.

Under Art. 36 of the OCSEA contract, employees (except for bargaining units 3, 4, 5) are required to take 10 cost savings days per year. However, if management denied an employee utilization of those days, the employee can be reimbursed, or equalized, for those days.

In order to handle the equalization requests, OCB has created a Request for Cost Savings Days Equalization form that is available through each state agency Human Resources department and on this website.

Employees who have concerns regarding equalization should complete the form and turn it back in to their agency. Employees should keep a copy of their form and record the date the form was submitted. The completed form must include the dates of denial as well as a detailed explanation of why the employee believes they were prevented by their employer from taking those CSDs.

Once submitted, agencies are responsible for getting all equalization requests to OCB. From there, OCB will then review each form and determine if the employee should be equalized or if the request will be denied.

OCB has committed to keeping OCSEA up-to-date on the equalization process by notifying the union of every form they receive. OCSEA will be working diligently with OCB to resolve all issues and grievances regarding CSD equalization.

Please note: If an employee or chapter has filed a grievance on an equalization issue, it is important that they follow the grievance procedure so that the union gets a copy of the grievance. In the event that step 3 of the grievance is waived, the grievance should be mailed directly to OCB and OCSEA.

Got questions? Contact your agency Human Resources department.

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Cost-savings Days