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Benefits, Compensation and Leaves 16-2
from duty during meal periods (which must be at least thirty minutes
long), no payment is required. 13 However, for police officers on extended
surveillance activities, any meal periods would be compensable given that
they are not completely relieved of duty. 14
As a mandatory federal law, unions may not bargain away employee rights
under the FLSA, 15 and an individual employee may not voluntarily waive
these rights. 16
A department head may schedule breaks at specific times, even if this
changes the manner in which employees previously scheduled their
breaks, according to a 1998 Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) ruling. 17
This was the case even though the employer implemented the change
unilaterally and gave no prior notice to the union. 18 There she found no
change in the existing practice that had each department head deciding
precisely when breaks would be taken.
§ 3 HOLIDAYS AND VACATIONS
The criteria for granting vacation leave is a mandatory subject of
bargaining. 19 If an employer has agreed to certain holidays explicitly in a
collective bargaining agreement or implicitly by creating a past practice,
an employer may not unilaterally alter the holiday work schedule or
compensation. 20 Thus, the decision not to pay teachers for Good Friday
contrary to past practice was found to be unlawful by the LRC because it
was a mandatory subject of bargaining (and no notice and opportunity to
bargain was given.). 21 Similarly, another public employer was found to
have violated the Law when it discontinued (without notice and
opportunity to bargain) its past practice of allowing officers on injury leave
to accumulate vacation credits and holiday pay. 22
The LRC has generally approached vacations in the same manner as
holidays. Thus, an employer may not unilaterally change the vacation
leave policy. 23 Further, the LRC has stated that an employer may not
unilaterally change the manner in which vacation leave is assigned or
approved. 24 An employer must provide notice and opportunity to bargain
to agreement or impasse before making any changes in the vacation leave
policy. 25
§ 4 LEAVES OF ABSENCE
The LRC generally treats leaves–resulting from injury, sickness, family
obligations, meetings, conventions, etc.–in the same manner as vacation
or holiday leaves, and requires the employer to bargain prior to changing a
Commonwealth of Massachusetts