Last year, Teamsters at the DOC successfully won an arbitration award that prohibits the Department from denying personal holiday requests under the pretext that “relief is unavailable.”

El laudo del árbitro puso fin a la práctica del DOC de negar las solicitudes de vacaciones personales en la mayoría de los casos. Desafortunadamente, no impidió que el Departamento violara su contrato por completo. El DOC continuó negando las solicitudes de vacaciones personales cuando el día solicitado caía en un día festivo real.  

Your Union filed a statewide grievance over the issue and was prepared to take the case to arbitration before the DOC capitulated last week.

“We insisted that the DOC comply with your contractual rights and they ultimately did,” said Tracey A. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters 117. “It shouldn’t matter if you request a personal holiday on Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, or any other day.  As long as it doesn’t impair the Department from maintaining operations, it should be granted.”