In the 2015 round of contract negotiations, San Francisco Department of Public Health physicians identified additional time off as a top priority. The UAPD bargaining team eventually prevailed in changing the contract from CTO “may be granted” to CTO “shall be granted” for work falling within established guidelines. With members’ input, those guidelines were agreed to last September.
In late February, several part-time physicians contacted the Union after being denied the compensatory time they had requested. They were told that not only must a physician work in excess of their regular work schedule, they must also work over eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week in order to get CTO hours at the 1.5x rate. Thus, part-time doctors would almost never be eligible for CTO.
UAPD engaged DPH and DHR in discussions at that time. In April a conceptual agreement was reached and, earlier this week, the new CTO request form was agreed to (download it here). DPH Payroll has been notified that part-time physicians who work in excess of their normal work schedule, due to conditions falling within the established guidelines, will receive CTO at the 1.5x rate even if they have not worked more than eight hours that day or 40 hours that week.
The UAPD bargaining team fought hard to win the new CTO provisions, but feedback so far indicates that most doctors are not utilizing it. We encourage our hard-working members, both full- and part-time, to take advantage of this important benefit!