Arbitrator Orders Grocer to Pay Double Time to Union Employees Held Over on Easter

Attorney Tod Cochran persuaded an arbitrator that warehouse employees represented by
UFCW Local 791 and who are forced to stay and work after midnight on Easter Sunday are entitled to double time pay under the parties’ collective bargaining agreement.

The CBA provides that time "Easter is a double time day if worked." Shaw's Supermarket asserted that since Easter Sunday was not a scheduled holiday, the few hours after midnight should not count as actual Easter Sunday hours. The arbitrator disagreed, even in the absence of past practice to support either party's position. The arbitrator fell back on the likely intent of the parties in negotiating the double time language. The Union persuaded him that because the warehouse is a 24-hour facility, any hour worked during that 24-hour period should fall within the ambit of the contract’s double time provision.