Religious Objection Any employee who is a member of and adheres to established and traditional tenets or teachings of a bona fide religion, body, or sect which has historically held conscientious objections to joining or financially supporting labor organizations shall not be required to join or financially support the Union as a condition of employment. Such an employee shall, in lieu of dues and fees, pay sums equal to such dues and fees to a non-religious charitable fund. These religious objections and decisions as to which fund will be used must be documented and declared in writing to the Union. Any employee exercising their right of religious objection must provide the Union with a receipt of payment to an appropriate charity on a monthly basis.
Religious Objections Any employee who is a member of a bonafide religion, body, or sect which has historically held conscientious objections to joining or financially supporting public employee organizations shall not be required to join or financially support the organization. Such employee shall, in lieu of periodic dues or agency shop fees, pay sums equal to said amounts to a non-religious, non-labor charitable fund exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which has been selected by the employee from a list of such funds designated by the City and the Association in a separate agreement. Such payments shall be made by payroll deduction as a condition of continued exemption from the requirements of financial support to the Association and as a condition of continued employment.
Religious Objectors Any employee covered hereby who maintains that she/he holds a sincere and bona fide religious belief that conflicts with an obligation to financially support MSEA-SEIU, public employee organizations or labor organizations in general may seek religious objector status by petitioning MSEA-SEIU. Any such employee who is found to hold a sincere and bona fide religious belief that conflicts with an obligation to financially support MSEA-SEIU, public employee organizations or labor organizations in general, shall have the right to refuse to make service fee payments; provided, however, that said right to refuse shall continue only so long as the employee makes contributions at least equal in amount to the service fee to a non-religious charitable organization mutually agreed upon by the employee so refusing and the Union, within ten (10) days after each payday. Part-time employees’ contributions to non-religious charitable organizations shall coincide in amount with the payments of those part-time employees paying the service fee. MSEA-SEIU shall not unreasonably deny the choice of such non-religious charitable organization suggested by the employee. An administrative or legal challenge to a denial of a petition for religious objector status may be filed in an appropriate forum. The State of Maine Office of Employee Relations is not such a forum. Should an employee have a pending written request for religious objector status or a pending administrative or legal challenge regarding their religious objector status, the State will continue to deduct an amount equal to the service fee from the employee’s pay until the request is granted or the challenge is resolved in the employee’s favor, and that amount will be placed by MSEA- SEIU in an interest-bearing escrow account pending resolution of such dispute or request. MSEA-SEIU shall pay for any maintenance fees associated with such escrow accounts. The State shall not be liable for any fees, costs, damages, expenses, or any other form of liability involved with regard to such escrow accounts. If an employee is granted religious objector status, MSEA- SEIU will notify the State of the employee’s religious objector status, and the State will cease automatic service fee deductions. It shall be the sole obligation of MSEA-SEIU to certify to the State the name of any employee who has failed to make timely contributions as a religious objector and has, thus, forfeited religious objector status. Once MSEA-SEIU has certified the employee’s name to the State, the State will commence and continue to automatically deduct the service fee from the employee’s pay as provided in Section 1.
Technical Objections to Grievance No grievance will be defeated or denied by any minor technical objection.
Minimum Staffing The Employer agrees to employ sufficient registered staff and health care aides/ Personal Support Workers to meet the staffing needs that may be set from time to time by statute and/or regulation. In the event that there is insufficient staffing to meet this undertaking, the Employer will post vacancies so that any unmet care undertaking will be satisfied.
Employment Categories (a) Employees under this Agreement will be employed in one of the following categories:
COURT SERVICE If an employee is required to appear in court or pursuant to a subpoena or other order of a court or body or to perform jury service, and such appearance or service results in his/her absence from work, he/she shall be granted court service leave for the period of time necessary to fulfill such requirement. Any employee who makes an appearance and whose service is not required shall return to work as soon as practicable after release. An employee on court service leave for a full day shall receive the difference between the payment received for such court service, excluding any travel allowance, and his/her regular pay. Any employee returning to work from court service leave shall be paid by the State for his/her actual hours worked or a minimum of the difference between payment received from the court, excluding any travel allowance, and his/her regular pay, whichever is greater. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to an employee summoned to or appearing before a court or body as a party to any private legal action which is not job related.
Religious Leave Religious leave shall be without pay unless the employee elects to use accumulated compensatory time off, vacation time, or floating holiday time. Denial of religious leave is appealable as provided elsewhere in this section.
Compensation for Holidays Falling Within Vacation Schedule If a paid holiday falls on or is observed during an Employee's vacation period, she shall be allowed an additional vacation day with pay at a time mutually agreed upon by the Employer and the Employee.
Technical Objections to Grievances It is the intent of both parties to this agreement that no grievance shall be defeated merely because of a technical error other than time limitations in processing the grievance through the grievance procedure. To this end an arbitration board shall have the power to allow all necessary amendments to the grievance and the power to waive formal procedural irregularities in the processing of a grievance in order to determine the real matter in dispute and to render a decision according to equitable principles and the justice of the case.
