Volume #2

KNOW YOUR COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT!

This monthly initiative is brought to you by CEIU Ontario Region.

CEIU members enjoy the benefits and protections of a solid collective agreement each day they work. Those advantages are not always visible on a day to day basis, but they should never be taken for granted. With this initiative we hope to educate our members by highlighting a different article each month and explain how it affects their work life.

This month:      Article 57: employee performance review and employee files

Year End is the perfect time to brush up on our awareness of this article as we are currently being asked to participate in performance review discussions.

The article says that you must have ‘the opportunity’ to sign your performance review as proof that it has been read, and that signing the form only indicates that you have read the review, not that you agree with it. Many managers will use this technicality when you are disputing some of the comments in your review, prompting you to sign in order to close off the mandatory completion requirement. In situations where you are not particularly concerned about the comments, you can, as per the agreement, add your own comments/explanations to the review, before signing.

However, if you are actively disputing the content of the review, the agreement doesn’t say that you ‘must’ sign it. Signing your review effectively closes the file and you cannot later change the contents within. When management pressures you to sign, it is a reflection of the pressure they are under to get it signed. You can negotiate to change the content as long as the file is unsigned. Always talk with your union representative before signing a contentious review.

Article 57 also allows you access to your personnel file once a year. Take advantage of it! We recommend that you access your file around your birthday each year, initial and date the pages, and copy it. Then, if something is added to your file out of sequence, you’ll know, and can ask why.

If you have further questions on this Collective Agreement article, please contact any member of the Communications Sub-Committee!

Article 57: employee performance review and employee files

57.01

1. When a formal assessment of an employee’s performance is made, the employee concerned must be given an opportunity to sign the assessment form in question upon its completion to indicate that its contents have been read. A copy of the assessment form will be provided to the employee at that time. An employee’s signature on his or her assessment form will be considered to be an indication only that its contents have been read and shall not indicate the employee’s concurrence with the statements contained on the form.

1. b. The Employer’s representative(s) who assess(es) an employee’s performance must have observed or been aware of the employee’s performance for at least one-half (1/2) of the period for which the employee’s performance is evaluated.

1. c. An employee has the right to make written comments to be attached to the performance review fo

57.02

1. Prior to an employee performance review, the employee shall be given:

1. the evaluation form which will be used for the review;

1. ii. any written document which provides instructions to the person conducting the review.

1. b. If, during the employee performance review, either the form or instructions are changed they shall be given to the employee.

57.03

Upon written request of an employee, the personnel file of that employee shall be made available once per year for his or her examination in the presence of an authorized representative of the Employer.

We hope you enjoyed this month’s edition of

KNOW YOUR COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT!

Keep an eye out for future editions coming your way every month!