When it comes to scheduling hours of work for Care Home Workers (CHWs) at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA), your employer needs to consistently follow the collective agreement.

The BCGEU is fully aware that there isn't always consistency of practice regarding CHW scheduling across VCHA. The union wants to support CHWs who believe that they are not being scheduled appropriately.

When it comes to scheduling hours of work for Care Home Workers (CHWs) at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA), your employer needs to consistently follow the collective agreement.

The BCGEU is fully aware that there isn’t always consistency of practice regarding CHW scheduling across VCHA. The union wants to support CHWs who believe that they are not being scheduled appropriately.

The purpose of this notice is to remind BCGEU members of the process to follow to review and problem solve scheduling issues.

Generally speaking, hours of work for CHWs should be scheduled as per the Community Health collective agreement as follows:                                                    

1. First - to regular CHWs (article 15).
   • the Employer is required to make every reasonable effort to assign hours to the maximum weekly hours of the employees posted position within their window of availability,
   • within their classification,
   • based on their seniority, and
   • subject to employee's ability to meet specific client needs and geographic location.
2. Second – to regular CHWs who are available to extend their window of opportunity and hours of work. CHW scheduling must be based on seniority within their extended window of availability and is subject to employee's ability to meet specific client needs and geographic location.
3. Third - to CHW Casuals (article 29)
   • within their availability,
   • within their classification,
   • based on their seniority, and
   • subject to employee's ability to meet specific client needs and geographic location.

If a CHW believes that they are not being scheduled according to the Collective Agreement, please complete the following steps:

1. Start by completing an Hours of Investigation (HOI) Form as soon as possible
   • The form should cover your two-week schedule to ensure you are getting your weekly posted position hours.
   • The form can be downloaded here: https://tinyurl.com/HOI-CHW
2. Make a copy of the HOI and keep it for your records.
3. Submit the original copy of the HOI to your manager and scheduler coordinator (if applicable). 
4. Give your Manager 14 days to complete an investigation. If your home support worksite has a scheduler coordinator, they may be delegated to do the investigation on behalf of the Manager.
5. Should you not hear back from your Manager in 14 days, please send a short follow-up email and cc your workplace steward.
6. Should you not hear back or disagree with the Manager’s response to your HOI, please follow-up with your Steward right away to file a written grievance at step 2. 
   • Grievance timelines are 21 days from when the answer was received or supposed to be received.
   • Please include a copy of the HOI form with your grievance form.

The BCGEU also encourages casual CHWs to complete an HOI Form and follow the above process should they believe the Employer has failed to schedule them based on the Collective Agreement language that applies to casuals (article 29). 

Please note that except for emergency cases, overtime work assignments are voluntary and no reason for refusal to work overtime needs to be given, as per article 16.8. Regrettably, there is no requirement to schedule overtime by seniority: article 16 (Overtime) is silent about seniority.

Please contact the local BCGEU Area Office by email at [email protected] or by phone at 604-215-1499 should you need to connect with a Steward or if there isn’t a steward at your worksite.

In solidarity,

Oliver Rohlfs
Staff Representative

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP