Welcome to the new year. We hope your holidays were good and safe for all. As an important part of your collective bargaining agreement (CBA), there are changes to sick leave that come into effect today, January 13. Changes that were scheduled to take effect mid-contract make for a longer contract and can be confusing. Please refer to contract articles 13 and 14, with attention to the where the language refers to ‘… following January 13, 2025…Nurses are encouraged to read the overview and the CBA articles 13 and 14.'

The employer sent a helpful communication to nurses last week with some FAQs on January 7. It is shared again here to support understanding:

Overview of Changes:

Effective January 13, 2025, Overlake Medial Center is establishing an RN Sick Leave bank, which RNs can access right away. The current Extended Illness Bank (EIB) program will become a legacy program, which means any RN hired after January 12, 2025, will not have access to EIB. All RNs will cease accruing new EIB hours effective January 13, 2025, but will keep all their earned hours and can cash out upon termination, as is the current process. RN Sick Leave hours are not eligible for any cashout at termination.

Planned and unscheduled sick time will automatically cascade in UKG, moving from RN Sick Leave to EIB (if available) to PTO. Nurses will still use Vacation PTO as is the current process.

The RN Sick Leave bank will have the same accrual rate as the current EIB, and you can roll over a maximum of four hundred (400) hours. If the accrued RN Sick Leave is greater than four hundred (400) hours, the level of accrued RN Sick Leave will be reduced to four hundred (400) hours of accrual maximum as a carry-over balance into the first pay period of the subsequent calendar year.

A nurse shall not carry over from the final pay period of each calendar year to the first pay period of the subsequent year more than a combined total of 600 hours of legacy EIB and RN Sick Leave. If a nurse has more than a combined total of 600 hours, any RN Sick Leave above 600 hours shall not be carried over from one year to the next.

See FAQs below to help with any questions related to this change. If after reading the FAQs you still have questions, please talk with your manager or contact Human Resources for assistance.  

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 
Q. Why was this change made? 

•  During negotiations between Overlake Medical Center and WSNA in 2024, it was identified that nurses had a strong desire for immediate access to sick leave without using their PTO first.  This plan allows nurses hired before January 13, 2025, to maintain their existing EIB while creating a path for immediate access to sick leave.  It also allows nurses hired on or after January 13, 2025, once they qualify, to have immediate access to their sick leave bank.

Q. Is my PTO changing?

• Your PTO accrual rate is not changing. Effective January 13, 2025, the PTO program provides eligible nurses with appropriate compensation during holidays and vacation time. While you may still use PTO for sick purposes if you have exhausted your sick leave and legacy EIB, RN Sick Leave is not considered part of the PTO bank.

Q. Which time-off banks are included in the maximum 600 hours? 

• The 600-hour maximum is for the combined Legacy EIB and RN Sick Leave. Your PTO bank is separate and not counted in this total.

Q. What if I have no EIB hours, will I still need to use a day of PTO before accessing my sick leave? 

• No, access to sick leave is immediate.

Q. How would it work if I have 100 hours of Legacy EIB and 12 hours of sick leave and was out for my three 12-hour shifts?

• You would enter 12 hours of RN Sick Leave in UKG for each day you were out, totaling 36 hours. The system would see that you have 12 hours of RN Sick Leave, so your first day would be RN Sick Leave. The system would then see you had no more RN Sick Leave, so it would automatically cascade to EIB, pulling the remaining 12 hours each day from your Legacy EIB bank. For that week, you would be paid 12 hours of RN Sick Leave and 24 hours of EIB.   
  
  RN Sick Leave, Legacy EIB Hours and PTO-Vacation accruals will be accessed in the following sequence, only moving to the next category if all accruals in the first (or second) categories are exhausted:  
  
  First – RN Sick Leave (if any) 
  Second - Legacy EIB hours (if any) 
  Third - PTO-Vacation (if any)

 Q. I have 600 hours of EIB, what happens to those hours? 

• Your 600 EIB hours will not be changed or affected.  You will also begin to accrue RN Sick Leave on January 13, 2025. If you need to take any sick time during 2025, those hours will first come from your newly created RN Sick Leave bank. If you do not have enough RN Sick Leave hours to cover your time away, the system will automatically pull from your Legacy EIB bank. If, on December 31, 2025, you still have 600 hours of EIB and you have some RN Sick Leave hours that you accrued but did not use in 2025, those new sick hours will not roll over, but all your Legacy EIB hours will roll over. The same cycle will start again in 2026.

 
Q. How does this impact leaves such as RN Leave, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML)?

• Your eligibility for these leaves does not change.
  
  RN Leave and FMLA: the only change is the order in which you access your accrued leave as described above.
  
  PFML: while receiving PFML benefits through Washington State, nurses are not eligible to use any paid leave through Overlake. Nurses are responsible for informing Overlake which option they elect to use.

Q. I am a new RN. When can I access sick leave? 

• Newly hired nurses may use accrued paid sick leave beginning the 90^th calendar day after the beginning of their employment.

Q. How do I apply RN Sick Leave to my timecard in UKG?

• You will follow the same process as applying PTO now. You will select “RN Sick Leave”  
  Request Time Off - myOverlake 
  Here is a link to the full contract where you can reference articles 13 and 14:

Are you still encountering issues with the time keeping system UKG, formerly Dimensions?

We learned that corrections were made after a system enhancement in October 2024. Please be vigilant! If you continue to experience the following or anything new and unusual. notify your manager and HR or payroll. It will lead to resolution sooner for systems issues, such as:

1. Missing attestation regarding rest breaks and meal periods when you clock out.
2. Check your time clocking regularly and pay statements every pay period. Verify that hours recorded, and benefit accrual rates are correct.

When in doubt, check it out. Submit correction requests if you find any clocking, pay or benefit discrepancies. Reading pay statements is not always clear. A tutorial on how to read your timecard or pay slip information is found on your employer HR intranet. It is always best to contact payroll and get clarification or correction as soon as possible. It will also help identify the scale of the issue, all of which affect your accurate and timely compensation. If you do not receive the requested correction or clarification, contact the Nurse Rep at tbarnes@wsna.org.

Health Benefits Committee: there are 2 more slots for WSNA members on this new contractual committee, set to launch during 2025!  Quality, affordable and accessible care is a value to nurses and their families. Contact your Nurse Representative or a local unit officer to express your willingness to serve.  Find the full language on p. 83 of the current CBA letter of understanding (LOU):

The Committee will concentrate efforts to research and review health equity, wellness programs and other possible benefits changes. The Committee shall assist the Hospital in its efforts (a) to provide effective and affordable medical benefits based on industry best practices and benchmarks, and (b) to minimize cost increases. The Committee will present its recommendations to the Chief People Officer.

Staffing

It is gratifying to report that the 2025 proposals, approved through the hard work of your Hospital Staffing Committee members, have been adopted by the CEO. They are to be submitted to the department of health and are publicly available. A huge thank you to every member of the HSC and every nurse who submitted an ADO and clocked missed breaks when applicable. We encourage you to be engaged with your staffing committee rep and support their efforts in these ways. Participate in your unit-based staffing committee to help implement the break relief role and other goals. Using your voice can be hard and the solutions are not often quick. Together, the working conditions, quality of life at work and sense of well-being in providing safe care are the result.

Please thank the WSNA HSC members: Co-chair Kristin Barnett IPS, Michele Percosky, Graciela Abolins OPS, Melissa Santos CCU, Denise Langeland So 4, Dawn Nelson South 5, Jenae Long W4, de-Anna Martin, Theresa Bradley SPU, Eliana Harmon ED, Tammy Wan SPA, Tammy Allen ERU, Jeremy Poling Break Relief RN

Contact one of your local unit officers or Nurse Representative tbarnes@wsna.org with questions or your local unit officers:

Chris Birchem LU chair lmh-ccb@comcast.net 
Heidi Scharnitzke Secretary hd.scharnitzke@gmail.com 
Crissy Sekine Treasurer crissysekine.rn@gmail.com 
Stacey Alvarez Grievance officer harley1_1@msn.com 
Brandon Yokoyama Membership Officer brandonyokoyama@gmail.com