Section 1: Entitlement
Effective May 1, subject to the requirements of this Section, every employee is entitled to a vacation and vacation pay as follows:
Vacation Pay, being the greater of:
percentage of the total wages earned by the employee during the preceding vacation period, or
hours pay at the hourly rate of the employee’s regular job.
An employee who is on the payroll on May 1st, who has been continuously employed during the qualifying period and who has:
(a) been employed for less than one year and does not qualify under (b) below:
1/4 day for each full week of actual work performed during the preceding vacation period provided no vacation of less than one day will be granted.
4-1/2%
(b) been on the payroll of the Signatory Company on May 1st and who has been employed for less than twelve (12) months prior to the said May 1st but who was on the payroll of the Signatory Company prior to September 1st of the previous year, or
been employed for not less than one year and who has worked for not less than 1200 hours during the preceding vacation period
The following hours will count as hours worked for the purpose of qualifying for vacation:
Vacations; Supplementary Vacations; Statutory Holidays; Special (Personal) Floating Holidays; Jury or Witness Duty; Bereavement Leave; Steam Plant, Apprenticeship and First Aid Leaves, Banked Days Off, and Days Off in Lieu of work performed on a Statutory Holiday, and approved maternity leave and/or parental leave.
2 weeks 4-1/2% or 80 hours
(c) qualified for their 2nd vacation under this Agreement:
3 weeks 6-1/2% or 120 hours
(d) qualified for their 7th vacation under this Agreement:
4 weeks 8-1/2% or 160 hours
(e) qualified for their 14th vacation under this Agreement:
5 weeks 10-1/2% or 200 hours
(f) qualified for their 23rd vacation under this Agreement:
6 weeks 12-1/2% or 240 hours
(g) qualified for their 29th vacation under this Agreement:
7 weeks 14-1/2% or 280 hours
Section 2: Additional Pay
In addition to the vacation pay to which an employee is entitled above, each employee shall, on qualifying for vacation under categories (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), or (g) above, be entitled to an additional amount of vacation pay equivalent to ten (10) hours’ pay at the hourly rate of the employee’s regular job in respect of the first week of his vacation.
Section 3: Payment on Termination
In the event an employee’s employment terminates either before they become entitled to a vacation with pay, or being entitled to a vacation with pay, or being entitled to it before they take it, they shall be paid on termination 4-1/2%, 6-1/2%, 8-1/2%, 10-1/2%, 12-1/2% or 14-1/2% (depending on whether they belong in the category of employees described in (a) or (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), or (g) above respectively) of their wages earned during the period of employment ending with their termination in respect of which no vacation or vacation pay to which they remain entitled has been paid or taken.
Section 4: General Rules
(a) The vacation period of May 1 to April 30.
(b) Vacations with pay provided in accordance with Section 1 above for employees in category (a) may not be counted when determining whether an employee has qualified for the vacations provided under 1, for employees in categories (c), (d), (e), (f), or (g).
(c) Vacations with pay are not cumulative and must be taken during the vacation year except as provided below:
(i) Vacations earned under Section 4(d) below;
(ii) At the start of the vacation year, employees may elect to receive all, part of or none of their vacation pay in advance;
(d) A vacation with pay provided under Section 1, for employees in category (a) may be taken during the vacation period in which the entitlement thereto is established, or during the next following vacation period.
(e) No employee may continue to work and draw vacation pay in lieu of taking the vacation.
(f) The allocation of vacation times is to be decided by the Company. However, the Company will endeavour by discussion with the employees or the Union, to arrange vacations to suit the employees’ wishes.
(g) Time lost as a result of an accident recognized as compensable by WorkSafeBC, suffered during the course of employment with the Company, shall be considered as time worked for the purpose of calculating entitlement upon return to work.
(h) Time not exceeding one (1) year, lost as the result of a non-occupational accident, illness, approved maternity/parental leave time not exceeding one and a half years (1 ½), shall be considered as time worked for the purpose of qualifying for vacation provided that at the time of the accident or illness or commencement of maternity leave or commencement of parental leave, the employee has been on the payroll for not less than one (1) year and returns to employment. It is understood that the employer may require that the employee provide a certificate from a qualified medical practitioner. Time exceeding one (1) year shall be recognized as uninterrupted service for the purpose of establishing vacation time off, upon return to work.
(i) Time lost as the result of lay-off shall not be considered as time worked for the purpose of qualifying for a vacation.
(j) It is understood that an employee’s vacation shall be exclusive of a paid statutory holiday, as recognized by the Kruger Products Inc. Labour Agreement. Therefore, if one or more such statutory holidays fall within the employee’s vacation period the statutory holiday will be automatically deferred.
The deferred statutory holiday hours and holiday pay may be used in combination with floating holidays, banked time, statutory holidays, and vacation.
The statutory holiday pay will be paid out on a first in, first out basis. If the deferred time off is not taken within a period of one (1) year from when it was earned, the Company shall pay out the deferred statutory holiday pay.
(k) Employees who qualify for vacations under Section 1 (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) may at their option elect to forfeit one (1) week of vacation, subject to the Employment Standards Minimum, and be paid the vacation pay they would have received in lieu of the week of vacation.
Employees must declare their intention for this option in writing, prior to the start of the vacation year, and will be paid out between May15th – 31st of the vacation year.
Section 5: Computation of Vacation Pay
Where an employee’s vacation pay for the current year is to be computed as a percentage of their “total wages earned” in the previous year, such “total wages earned” shall include the amount of vacation pay the employee received in the previous year.