Summary of Settlement Agreement for leave Balance Arbitration 1/17/2023

January 17, 2023
Summary of Settlement Agreement for leave Balance Arbitration
In 2021 the FOP filed a grievance against the BPD and the City of Baltimore concerning the accumulation of leave. In the previous MOU leave was to be accumulated in days but the city calculated FOP members accumulated leave in hours (8.0 or 8.55 hours) based on members assigned schedules.
In the most recent MOU all members now work the same hours per day and per year. Also, members accumulate all leave in hours listed in the MOU. This now creates an issue if a member uses leave that was accumulated under the previous MOU in the time frame of the new MOU. If a member accumulated time in the previous MOU, 8.0 hours and attempts to use the time today 8.5 hours they will be 0.5 hours short.
The grievance filed corrects the 0.5-hour short fall of leave. To correct this issue the BPD and FOP entered into an agreement that specifies the following:
1. No later than January 2, 2023, the BPD will provide the FOP electronic spreadsheets showing the vacation, sick, and VMI balances for all bargaining unit employees as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2021. This has been completed.
2. No later than February 28, 2023, the BPD shall calculate the amount of additional leave accrual due for members through the following method:
  1. For each type of leave and for each employee, the Department shall calculate the difference between the December 31, 2021 balance and the December 31, 2020 balance
  2. If the difference calculated in step (a) above is negative or zero, the Department shall take no further action.
  3. If the difference calculated in step (a) above is positive, the Department shall calculate the additional accrual due to the employee by multiplying the difference by 1.0625. Multiplying the difference between the leave accumulation by 1.0625 will give members and additional 0.5 hours for every 8 hours of leave.
3. No later than April 28, 2023, the BPD will, in conjunction with the Central Payroll Division, adjust all leave balances for bargaining unit members who have additional accruals due per the calculations.
4. No later than May 18, 2023, the BPD will complete an audit of the adjustments to ensure that all leave balances are properly updated.
5. If employees separate from employment between the date of this agreement and June 15, 2023, the Department shall, at its expense, remit the value of the vacation and VMI leave days to the retired employee at the employee’s last known address.

Take care,

Mike