Loblaw Implementation issues and updates – April 11 2023

Part-time Vacation Pay issue

Loblaw Vacation Pay Percentage Issue was identified by an alert member from Loblaws Superstore Coquitlam 1519. 

As you may be aware, the "Pay as you Go Vacation" implementation became effective November 13, 2022.

Part time employees were paid out on their accrued vacation pay and members began seeing their vacation paid out on each pay period.

However, an issue has arisen where it has been discovered that your Employer Loblaws has only been paying accrued vacation pay only on the pay period earnings.  Loblaws has not been paying accrued vacation pay percentage on the vacation pay earned.

A Coquitlam Superstore member contacted Union Representative Eric Seto after noticing a reduction in their accrued vacation payout.  After some discussion, the issue was immediately identified as an improper practice and this deviated from previous practice where Loblaws was paying vacation pay on ‘total earnings’.  This member was extremely helpful and able to provide copies of their paystub showing the incorrect vacation calculations. Further investigation was also needed to determine that this was not an isolated issue, but a province wide issue.

According to Article 18.21 : “The Employer agrees to provide vacation pay on a “total compensation” or normal week’s pay, whichever is greater. Total compensation shall mean “all monies received directly from the Employer” (wages, overtime, bonuses, premiums, vacation pay, sick-leave-credit payments, and other items of similar nature)

Your Union then contacted the Loblaw Labour Relations team and we are happy to report that this issue has now been resolved.

The Company has made payroll changes effective April 2 2023, and affected employees will be provided a lump sum back pay amount to reflect the vacation pay owed from November 13 2022.

“This is a huge issue that affected all of our Loblaw superstore part-time employees in BC”. said Eric Seto, “this alert member from Coquitlam should be applauded for identifying and raising this issue” he added.

Seniority credit conversion to seniority date

There have been complaints regarding anomalies on the seniority list.  Union Staff representatives investigated these anomalies and forwarded complaints to be investigated by the Human Resources department.  It was determined that some seniority dates were incorrect, and this was due to information being pulled from a wrong column on a spreadsheet. 

A clean run has now been performed and a new list updated and corrected list has now been created.

During this investigation, there was also a concern raised that members who were on an approved leaves, would not have an opportunity to apply for a seniority credit for any time up  to ratification.

This could impact their seniority date calculation. 

The employer should be providing seniority credit for missed hours up to the date of ratification.  This is due to the calculation that used the total seniority hours at ratification to convert to the fixed seniority date .  This issue has affected approximately 400 members in the province.  

To ensure that this issue is properly dealt with, your Union will be sending out individual letters to all affected and identified members.  Members will be given an opportunity and deadline to apply for the seniority hours credit. 

Correction CBA –fourth printing

While care and attention is taken to ensure that the Collective Agreement is correct and free from errors or omissions.  Generally, updates do occur through the life of the Collective Agreement which are identified to the Union, by members, by staff, or by the Company Representatives. 

When there are updates or corrections needed, a new printing is required to ensure that members at large and the Company have the most updated booklets.  We are currently working on the fourth printing as another error has been identified and requires and update.  This means that if you have an older print version, it may not be accurate and up to date.  The most up to date version will always be posted on our website.  An error has been identified where the months noted in the collective agreement related to the annual increases was linked to the original memorandum that had a May settlement date.  This memorandum was rejected and the second memorandum, which was ratified, was linked to the July date.  Increases are typically linked to the expiration or anniversary date of the collective agreement.
 

Loblaw Safety update – Uniformed Asset Protection Personnel

Loblaws has placed uniformed personnel in problem stores described as Uniformed Asset Protection Personnel.

The current stores with this program in place are Loblaw Superstore 1517, 1518, 1519, 1520, 1557, 1563.

Recently, a Union member at a Loblaw Superstore was assaulted by an angry customer at the U-Scan. While we are thankful that no serious injury resulted from this attack, this incident highlighted some concerns we have over how many of our Employers respond to these types of incidents. Your Union has been aggressively advocating to ensure that proper processes are put in place and member safety measures are treated as a high priority.

The Uniformed Asset Protection Personnel will assist with gatekeeper calls, assist Loss Prevention staff and be a more visible deterrent to shoplifters.

The Company will be assessing the success of this program to determine if expansion to a larger number of stores will be required.

Member safety is an important issue and Loblaws has indicated that they will attempt to have safety huddles and de-escalation posters.  The Company’s bullying and harassment complaint line will be emphasized as well as the integrity action hotline.

The safety of our members should come first, and member safety treated as a priority.