In re Grievance of VSEA

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court reviewed a Vermont Labor Relations Board decision concerning compensation and leave under collective bargaining agreements after Tropical Storm Irene damaged state facilities. The Court held that employees’ entitlement to double compensation under the emergency-closing provisions ended when the emergency ended, and affirmed the finding that no emergency existed on August 30, 2011, or thereafter. The Court also rejected the related leave-time claim.

Holdings

1. Employees’ right to double compensation under the emergency-closing provisions ended when the emergency ended; the right was not extended merely because employees could not return to their regular workplaces or had not yet received permanent relocation notices.
2. Because VSEA’s leave-related claim depended on its rejected interpretation of the emergency-closing provision, VSEA could not prevail on the claim that the State violated the leave provisions or applied Personnel Policy 11.3 discriminatorily.

Questions Presented

1. Whether employees retained a right to double compensation under the emergency-closing provisions of the collective bargaining agreements after the emergency ended but before they were permanently reassigned to new work locations.
2. Whether the State violated the agreements’ leave provisions and State Personnel Policy 11.3 by requiring some employees to use accrued leave after the Waterbury complex closed while other employees received regular pay without using leave.

Disposition

affirmed