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Changing Schedules 14-4
legitimate external economic considerations and was not a manipulation
of schedules merely to avoid overtime. 14
§ 4 HOLIDAY SCHEDULES
The LRC, in its 1981 decision in the City of Springfield case, addressed the
City's obligation to bargain in good faith over a change in its practice of
paying overtime for a holiday. 15 In this case the collective bargaining
agreement with the Massachusetts Nursing Association, which "expired"
on June 30, 1979, provided for 11 specified paid holidays and called for
overtime pay, in addition to a regular day's pay, for nurses required to
work on a holiday. Without conferring with the Association, the City
issued a memorandum to department heads advising them that the Mayor
"has indicated that October 1, 1979 will be a paid holiday." The state had
recently voted to declare October 1, 1979 as a Papal Holiday, in honor of
the Pope's visit to Boston. When the City later failed to pay the extra
compensation to nurses who worked the "holiday", the LRC found that the
City's conduct constituted a refusal to bargain in good faith. Rather than
order the extra compensation as the Association requested, the
Commission simply ordered the City to cease and desist from failing or
refusing to bargain in good faith with the Association over compensation
for unit members who worked on October 1, 1979 in reliance upon the
September 28, 1979 memorandum from the Mayor.
In another LRC decision which involved the granting of half day holidays
on the day preceding Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Hearing Officer
dismissed a complaint alleging a unilateral change in a past practice. 16
The union contended there were no prerequisites to early release, while
the School Committee stated that they were contingent upon the
successful completion of work assignments. The Hearing Officer found
the union's position "questionable and unrealistic" and ruled in the School
Committee's favor.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts