LOW CENSUS DEFINITION. Low census shall be defined as a decline in patient care requirements resulting in a temporary staff decrease. Reductions of hours due to low census do not have any notice requirements. After the schedule is posted, in the event the Employer reduces the workforce in a job classification on a given shift due to low census, scheduled hours will be reduced in the following order: First Cut: Agency Personnel Next Cut: Employees working in overtime pay condition Next Cut: Employees working a scheduled extra pickup shift which will result in overtime during the pay period Next Cut: Volunteers Next Cut: Employees working a scheduled extra pickup shift which will not result in overtime during the pay period Next Cut: Intermittent employees Next Cut: Non-voluntary rotational cut of full-time and part-time employees in a job classification on the affected shift, starting with the lowest seniority. Assignments of low census days shall be rotated among the staff in affected departments so that no employee in a department working on that particular day shall be required to take a second low census day until all employees in the department working that day have taken a low census day. Nothing herein shall authorize the employer to schedule its employees as “low census” in advance, requiring them to be available for work on their scheduled day off or to remain available for work until the start of the shift. The reduction in hours may be spread in smaller increments among all the employees on an effected shift (i.e., all receive a one hour reduction in scheduled shift). If the reduction requires individual employees to be reduced by a full shift, after all employees in a department working have taken a low census day then the rotation will begin again with the least senior employee. An employee who volunteers to take a low census day shall be regarded for the purpose of rotation to have been assigned that day as a low census day. Nothing herein shall limit the number of low census days an employee may accept as a volunteer. Low census days shall be without compensation. Employees subject to low census may elect to utilize earned PTO or vacation benefits which are otherwise available for scheduling. Quarterly, on November 1, February 1, May 1 and August 1, the cycle of applying cut hours will start over.
LOW CENSUS DEFINITION. A low census period is a daily or an extended period not longer than three (3) months during which the activity level in a particular department is substantially below the level of activity for which the department has been staffed. The provisions of this Article intend to reduce work hours without having to assign one (1) or more employees to layoff status or impose mandatory reductions in FTE status. If the conditions here described continue longer than three (3) months, the Hospital shall reduce the work force or FTE status in accordance with Section 6.6.
