This arbitration involved two (2) grievances filed by a Captain and a Detective who were covered by separate Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) but had identical language regarding the accrual, crediting and payout of vacation.  The CBA required a new employee to work a full year before taking vacation but stated “after each full year of service, all vacation leave accrued is credited to the employee, who shall then be eligible to take such leave.”  The CBA further stated that upon separation of employment, the employee “shall be entitled to and receive pay for all accrued and unused vacation leave to his/her credit at the time of separation.”  The City established the practice/policy of crediting employees with vacation on January 1 of each year after their first anniversary.  This led the Grievants, who retired in July and August, to believe they were denied the vacation they earned from January 1 until their respective dates of retirement. 

The Union argued that the CBA clearly required the use of an accrual process, that vacation was to be credited at the end of each full year of service based on the anniversary date and that the payouts failed to include vacation time earned and accrued from January 1 to the retirement dates.

The City argued that the credit of vacation on January 1 was an advance of vacation for the upcoming year which had been utilized for many years and does not violate the CBA.  The City presented evidence of prior instances of employee separations and their vacation payouts that were treated in the same manner.

The Arbitrator found that the practice of crediting vacation on January 1 was not the issue that was before her.  Instead, the issue was whether the vacation payouts were correctly calculated.  The Arbitrator concluded that there was no evidence that the Grievants had been denied vacation time to which they were contractually entitled.  The practice of advancing vacation time did not have a deleterious impact upon the retirement payouts received by the Grievants. There was no evidence that the City erred in its vacation payouts to the Grievants.

The Grievances were denied.

Employer:  City of Mansfield                                                Date:  February 1, 2023