Personal/Family Leaves – Article 20.9

Written by Darcy – Hryn-Bird

Did you know that as a member of ASPA you have access to three (3) days of paid leave to deal with emergent, personal or family situations?

Article 20.9 of the Collective Agreement (May 1, 2014 – April 30, 2019) states: “ In order to meet the needs of a member to attend to emergent, personal or family situations, a maximum of three (3) days of paid leave is eligible per calendar year and does not accumulate from year to year.”

Here are some examples of where a member might be asking for this leave:

1. Your child is home sick and you have no one to look after them.
2. Your hot water heater springs a leak and you need to have a plumber come in.
3. You need to take a family member to an appointment.
4. A family member has been taken to the hospital.

This list of examples is not exhaustive but hopefully provides you with an understanding of how you could use this time.   A member does not have to use a full day of time on each occasion.   To look at it another way, you have twenty – two point five (22.5) paid hours that you can use per year for circumstances such as these.  This time does not accumulate from year to year and in January of each year you will start with a new three (3) days or twenty – two point five (22.5) hours.

You should have a discussion with your supervisor about accessing this time.  If you can do that prior to the need arising that is the best case scenario.  Understandably however, there are occasions where there would be no ability to discuss this in advance.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact ASPA’s Member Services Officer, Glenn Billingsley, at glenn@aspasask.ca or 306-966-7392.