Off-Hours Communications Clause Samples

Off-Hours Communications. CPD and the Guild acknowledge the importance of employees being able to have work-life balance and that being required to check email or phones off-hours can impede the ability for employees to strike that balance. Generally, the hours before 8:30am or after 6:30pm (as applied in the time zone for the person receiving the communications), personal-time-off, weekends or other designated days of rest (e.g. other days as designated in flex schedules), and CPD holidays are considered “off-hours.” Employees are not expected to regularly check their email or phones off-hours. If a response is required to be done off-hours, supervisors must explicitly state that expectation and the rationale for the need for off-hours responses. Supervisors should work to provide as much advance notice of any need to work off-hours. Employees will not be disciplined for failing to respond to off-hour communications unless there is an explicit expectation or responsibility that requires responsiveness. When CPD communicates with an employee off-hours in a manner that requires a response it will be considered time working except for de minimis communication. More intrusive work-related communications by employees and supervisors (e.g., texting and phone calls) in the off-hours should generally be limited to those items that are time-sensitive or necessary for a responsibility-specific communication. Departments will work, with employees’ input, to develop practices that make sense for the demands for their teams, especially for rapid-response situations. Employees who have questions about expectations are encouraged to ask their supervisor. Employees who feel they experience a pattern of excessive or intrusive off-hour communications are encouraged to raise it directly with their supervisor, their supervisor’s supervisor, or HR.