USW Local 9432 Fights Off Employer's Attempt to Prorate Benefits

A neutral arbitrator recently handed USW Local 9432 a sweeping victory reversing an attempt by HomeServe USA Energy to change the parties' long-standing practice by instituting a policy prorating vacation and sick leave accruals for employees out on extended leaves of absence. Attorney Alfred Gordon O'Connell argued and won the case for the Steelworkers.

The case arose in 2012 when, after the parties completed negotiations for their successor CBA, the Company sent notice to members returning from leave that their vacation and sick leave accruals in the next year would be prorated to account for the time they were out of work the previous year. When the Union grieved the matter, the Company asserted that it had been granted this power in the recently completed negotiations.

Based on the record adduced at hearing, the arbitrator adopted the Union's position that there was nothing in the language of the new CBA, in the parties' past practice, or in the bargaining history that could support the Company's position. The arbitrator specifically noted that the parties had incorporated proration language in a different area of the benefits article and thus concluded that the lack of proration language regarding leaves of absence reflected the parties' agreement that there would be no such proration.

The arbitrator ultimately ordered the Company to rescind its new policy and make the affected employees whole in all respects.