Answers to FAQs that our front office staff routinely encounter:
If requested, do I have to write a “statement” regarding an incident and sign it if I’m not comfortable doing so?
The failure to “write a statement” concerning an incident can expose an employee to disciplinary action for insubordination. Any statement that you write should be factual.
As a part of your statement, you can write the following:
I have been ordered to submit this statement and failure to do so would subject me to disciplinary actions. I am not waiving any rights in submitting this statement.
Do I have to sign a Disciplinary Action when I receive it?
If you are directed to sign a Notice of Disciplinary Action, then you should sign it, but understand that your it does not mean you agree with the discipline being given.
Also understand that your signature does not mean you are waiving any appeal rights.
Who are the Worker’s Comp or Disability lawyers that can help me?
The Cn. 3 staff does not assist with these kinds of claims.
You can call the following:
Kahn Smith and Collins @410.244.1010
SBW Law @410.685.2022
AFSCME Advantage Legal Service @888.993.8886
Can the employer “deny” my request for FMLA?
You should speak to a representative as decisions are made on a case by case basis.
Can the employer discipline me if I can’t get into work during inclement weather?
An employee may be entitled to administrative leave and should follow the dbm.gov website and the afscmemd.org site for any road closures. If an employee is disciplined he/she has appeal rights.
How much time do I have to appeal or grieve an issue? Is the time in calendar days or business days?
- Non-DOT employees have 20 calendar days to file a grievance, which is defined as a dispute over the application of a policy or procedure.
- DOT employees have 30 calendar days to file a grievance.
Both Non-DOT employees and DOT employees have 15 calendar days to appeal a Notice of Disciplinary Action or Charges. - For DOT employees, a Rejection of Probation, must be appealed within 5 business days from the time they received the Rejection of Probation to the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Can I request a union rep when I am required to visit the state medical doctor?
Union representatives do not accompany state employees to the state medical doctor and do not have any authority over his/her practice of medicine. The employee can call the staff rep for advice before they go.
Can I use bereavement leave for in-laws?
- The MOU permits an employee to receive up to three days of bereavement leave with appropriate documentation upon the death of the following family members: spouse, children, foster children, step-children, parents, step-parents, foster-parents, brothers or sisters, or grandparents and grandchildren of the employee.
- A maximum of five working days may be charged to sick leave in the event of the death of one of the following members of the immediate family: spouse, children, foster-children, step-children, parents, step-parents, foster-parents of employee or spouse or others who took the place of parents, legal guardians of employee or spouse, brothers and sisters of employee or spouse, grandparents and grandchildren of employee or spouse, other relatives living as a member
of the employee’s household. - A maximum of one working day be charged to sick leave in the event of the death of one of the following relatives: aunts and uncles of employee or spouse, nephews and nieces of employee or spouse, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law of employee’s spouse and sons-in-law and daughters-in-law.
How much time is my employer required to give me to seek union representation for a mitigation?
- If there is a representative (steward) on duty at the worksite, no less than 1 hour.
- If there is no representative (steward) on duty at the worksite, at least four hours to obtain a representative.
- Correctional Officers, because they are covered under the Correctional Officer Bill of Rights, have 24 hours to obtain representation. If they are union members, they can be represented by the law firm retained to represent members only in investigatory interviews. The number of that law firm is 888.685.2022.
What am I supposed to do if my REP is not available for a mitigating or investigatory meeting?
- You may request a postponement -but as per the MOU, Article 21, Section 3, “If the Union cannot or does not have a representative available within a reasonable period of time, the meeting may be conducted without representation.
- The Correctional Officer Bill of Rights permits investigatory interviews to be postponed for up to 10 days.
Can I be drafted twice (consecutively)?
Unless there is a policy stating otherwise, yes.
Can they force me to be compensated for Overtime worked, with Comp time?
If you are an employee who is eligible for either compensatory time or cash as payment for working overtime, it is your right to choose cash or comp time.
You cannot be forced to take one form of payment or another.
Amount of notice one should receive prior to being called into a meeting with management? Do I have to attend if given a very short notice, like 15 mins or just before I’m about to leave for the day?
- You should ask if the meeting can lead to disciplinary action being taken against you. If it can, then invoke your rights to union representation. If there is a representative or steward on duty at the work site, you have no less than one hour to obtain representation; if no representative or steward is on duty, at least four hours.
- Employees should ask if the meeting is a mitigating conference or an investigatory interview/meeting/conference and then cite Article 21, Section 3 of the MOU about their right to have representation in such a meeting.
- If you must attend the meeting and it goes beyond your quitting time, it would be considered overtime.
- Yes, until management tells you to leave.
I want to file an EEOC complaint; can the union assist me?
Call the EEOC coordinator for the department or call Maryland Commission
on Civil Rights 410-767-8600.
I just have some questions about the union, but no one from the union ever visits our worksite. Who can I talk to?
Talk to your local union president.
