Information Resources
Where can I get additional information on Gas First Responders?
This document answers many of the questions the Overview Committee has already received. Letter Agreement 16-43 provides additional information as well. Information is also available from your local IBEW Business Representative and/or local Labor Relations Specialist.
Where can I get additional information on 4/10 schedules?
Letter Agreement 93-96 provides additional information about 4/10 schedules, meals, overtime, vacation, holidays, etc.
Staffing
If the Company determines there is a need to fill behind a Gas First Responder employee who is absent for one week or longer, what is the process?
- The Supervisor requests a bid list from the local Labor Specialist to identify all employees with bids on file.
- The vacancy is first offered to qualified bidders by seniority within the headquarters
- The vacancy is then offered to qualified bidders by seniority within the bidding unit and who reside within 30 miles or 45 minutes from the headquarters with the vacancy
- If the vacancy remains unfilled after completing the steps listed above, the following options are available for use in any order:
- Volunteer upgrade of qualified Gas First Responder employee
- Forced upgrade of qualified Gas First Responder employee
- Volunteer upgrade of qualified non-Gas First Responder from Day Shift
- Forced upgrade of qualified non-Gas First Responder employee hired after January 05, 2017 (7b)
- Request a Hiring Hall employee (7b)
- Fill vacancy via POT from Day Shift
If the Company determines there is a need to fill behind a Gas First Responder employee who is absent for less than one week, what is the process?
- If time allows (e.g. advance notice of absence), the Supervisor requests a bid list from the local Labor Specialist to identify all employees with bids on file and the vacancy is offered to qualified bidders by seniority within the headquarters.
- The following options are also available for use in any order:
- Volunteer upgrade of qualified Gas First Responder employee
- Forced upgrade of qualified Gas First Responder employee
- Volunteer upgrade of qualified non-Gas First Responder from Day Shift
- Forced upgrade of qualified non-Gas First Responder employee hired after January 05, 2017 (7b)
- Fill vacancy via POT from Day Shift
Are non-Gas First Responder employees who fill behind an absent Gas First Responder as an extension of the workday, entitled to an upgrade and increase in pay?
Should the Company opt to fill behind an absent Gas First Responder then yes, the employee would receive the increase in pay.
Time in Classification towards Pension
Does Vacation and/or Sick time taken count as ‘time in step’ with respect to 16-43 Gas First Responder Classifications?
Yes, but the employee must be on active payroll and not on Leave of Absence or Worker’s Compensation.
Do any hours worked in the Gas First Responder count toward the 18 months needed for the full wage rate to count towards pension?
An employee holding a First Responder classification at the time of retirement will have all hours worked in First Responder classifications credited toward the 18 months needed for the full rate to count as pensionable. This includes timecard and PCR upgrades.
Call-out Provisions
An emergency job requiring three people occurs during the Gas First Responder’s regular work hours on a weekend. The EOT list is called to get three people, and two Gas First Responder members are utilized to supplement the crew, making it a five-person crew. The duration of the emergency job is anticipated to extend beyond the end of the Gas First Responder’s regular work hours. If the supervisor decides to send two people home at the end of the Gas First Responder’s regular work hours, who will be sent home?
The employees who were called in will stay on the assignment.
Is the Company required to call employees on the Weekly 212 list if a non-emergency, regularly scheduled job assigned to the First Responder Crew requires them to work extension of the workday?
No, in accordance with Letter Agreement 16-43 10(b), the Gas First Responder Crew and regular Crews are treated the same and shall not be replaced by another crew, except to avoid forced overtime resulting from extension of the workday.
Can the Company assign non-emergency, regularly scheduled jobs to the Gas First Responder Crews that can reasonably be anticipated to last longer than the crew’s regularly scheduled workday and would result in extension of the workday?
Yes, he Company can assign non-emergency, regularly scheduled jobs to the Gas First Responder Crew even if the job is anticipated to last longer than their regularly scheduled workday.
Can a Gas First Responder continue to work on an emergency job while the 212 crew breaks for a meal?
Yes, the crews working together in this example would have differing meal times, but restoration efforts would not have to cease as a result.
After exhausting the Weekly 212 list, the Company assembles a crew which includes a Gas First Responder Crew member. The Gas First Responder employee was signed up on the Weekly 212 list and would have received the callout had he not been working. The job extends beyond the Gas First Responder regular hours. If the Supervisor determines there is a need to reduce the crew size, which employee gets sent home?
The Supervisor would determine which classifications are needed. For example, if there are two Equipment Operators on site and only one is needed, despite being on the Weekly 212 list, the Gas First Responder Equipment Operator would be released from the job as they were not called from home.
A yard had a gas emergency and while three employees responded, the headquarters exhausted the Weekly 212 list. After this work is completed, an additional gas emergency occurs. Is the Company required to call the Weekly 212 list again? Can that crew continue working?
An additional call out is not needed and the employees can continue working. The company met its commitment under Title 212 and LA 16-43.
The Weekly 212 list is posted for sign-ups on Monday and is taken down on Tuesday. Since the Gas First Responder employees are not scheduled to work on Mondays and Tuesdays how do they indicate their interest in working overtime?
It is the employee’s responsibility to sign up on the Weekly 212 list. The specific weekly list sign up process may be agreed to locally by the Company and IBEW Local 1245.
Will Gas First Responder employees be included on the same EOT and POT lists as their non-Gas First Responder co-workers? Are they considered separate classifications for the purpose of EOT call out and POT equalization?
The intent of LA 16-43 was that the employees on the day shifts and Gas First Responders will be treated the same for the purposes of overtime. They will be called or scheduled from combined lists. As such, should any equalization issues occur, they will be evaluated as a group.
A supervisor has POT for Tuesday before the start of the day shift for one hour. Does the Gas First Responder have to be offered this POT assignment?
There is no obligation to offer this POT to any specific employee. The only obligation is to equalize the POT at the end of the year in accordance with Section 208.16.
Rest Periods
If a Gas First Responder Crew on a Sunday – Wednesday 1200 – 2200 schedule continues working into overtime on Monday night into Tuesday until at 06:00; do they earn a rest period? What time do they return to work?
The crew earned an 8 hour rest period since they worked 8 hours at the overtime rate during the 16 hours preceding the beginning of their regular work hours on a workday. As this 8 hour rest period overlaps into the first half of their workday, the employee returns to work for the second half of the work day which in this case is at 17:00 on Tuesday.
If a Gas First Responder Crew on a Sunday – Wednesday 12:00 – 22:00 schedule continues working into overtime on Monday into Tuesday until 10:00 AM, do they earn a rest period? What time do they return to work?
The crew has earned an 8 hour rest period since they worked 8 hours or more at the overtime rate during the 16 hours preceding the beginning of their regular work hours on a workday. As the rest period overlaps into the second half of the workday, the employee returns to work at the start of their next regular workday, 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Shift Premium Pay
Are employees regularly assigned to a Gas First Responder entitled to shift premium pay?
Premium pay is based on the time that an employee is regularly scheduled to begin work. All work periods that are regularly scheduled to begin at noon or later, but before 8:00 p.m. are designated as 2nd shifts and receive 2nd shift premium pay. Therefore, based upon the schedules agreed upon in the letter of agreement, Gas First Responder employees would be entitled to the 2nd shift premium.
In accordance with Section 110.4, shift premiums are only paid for hours actually worked, not for non-work time such as holidays, sick leave, and vacation.
If the parties agree to an earlier start time on Saturdays or Sundays, would the Gas First Responder be entitled to a shift premium on those days?
If the parties agree to a start time before noon on Saturdays or Sundays, the Gas First Responder employees would not be entitled to a shift premium for time worked on those days. Employees’ regular start time must be between noon and 8:00 p.m. in order to be entitled to the 2nd shift premium.
Are Gas First Responder employees entitled to the Sunday premium?
Gas First Responder employees who are regularly scheduled to work on a Sunday (and who in fact work on a Sunday), are eligible for the Sunday premium.
In accordance with Section 110.7, an employee is not due the Sunday Premium when working a Sunday which is not part of that employee’s regularly scheduled workweek or when the employee is working on a Sunday at the overtime rate. Sunday premiums are only paid for straight time hours actually worked, not for non-work time such as holidays, sick leave, and vacation.
Are Gas First Responder employees who work their regularly scheduled Sunday shift also entitled to the 2nd shift premium?
Yes, the 2nd shift premium is applicable to employees who are regularly scheduled to work on a Sunday (and who in fact work on a Sunday).
If a non-Gas First Responder employee begins an overtime assignment between noon and 8:00 pm on a day where there is already an established Gas First Responder 2nd shift, would the employee also receive the 2nd shift premium?
Yes, the second shift premium is applicable to employees who are regularly or temporarily scheduled to begin work during noon and 8:00 p.m. on days where there is already an established 2nd shift in the headquarters.
If a non-Gas First Responder employee begins an overtime assignment on a Sunday where there is already an established Gas First Responder Sunday shift, would the employee also receive the Sunday premium?
No, the Sunday premium is not applicable to employees who work on a Sunday on overtime where there is an established Sunday shift.
If an employee is temporarily filling in on straight time behind an absent Gas First Responder and has assumed the Sunday shift, the employee is eligible for the Sunday premium.
If a non-Gas First Responder employee accepts a 2nd shift overtime assignment, and the assignment is contiguous with his regular day shift assignment (i.e. it is an extension of the employee’s regular workday), is he entitled to a shift premium for any or all hours worked?
When the overtime hours worked are contiguous with an employee’s regular work hours, then the employee is only entitled to any shift premium in effect for his regular work hours. In this case, the employee would receive no shift premium since his regular work hours are on the DAY shift.
Conversely, if the 2nd shift employee accepts a day (1st shift) assignment, and it is contiguous with is 2nd shift (i.e. prearranged overtime immediately before his regular work hours), he receives the 2nd shift premium for all hours worked.