Attendance guideline training document | Time Off General Notice
### Reference Only – No Longer an Active Policy ###
January 11, 2021
BNSF Railway Co.
ALL DIVISIONS
SYSTEM GENERAL NOTICE NO. 208
TO ALL CONCERNED,
SUBJECT: Guidelines for TYE and Yardmaster Attendance
System General Notice No. 207 is canceled:
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Explanation: Effective January 11, 2021
Attendance guidelines are updated with amendments to the following
sections:
I. Specific principles for applying these Guidelines.
II. Discipline Handling for Attendance Guidelines violations.
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BNSF Guidelines for TYE and Yardmaster Attendance
Effective January 11, 2021
BNSF TYE employees and Yardmasters are key members of our community, and
have a legitimate expectation of reasonable opportunity to be off from
work. And, along with all other members of our community, BNSF TYE
employees and Yardmasters share certain responsibilities to the community
as a whole. One of these basic responsibilities is to be "full-time"
employees.
I. Specific principles for applying these Guidelines follow:
1. Each employee's compliance will be measured on a "rolling"
three-month basis to better accommodate periods of intermittent
illness. Each month is calculated independently and then combined to
determine the threshold for the three-month period. The three-month
rolling basis applies regardless if the employee has been in active
service for the full three months.
2. Employees in 5-day assigned service (includes 05/02 extra boards)
have a maximum threshold of one day per month. Employees in 6-day
assigned service have a maximum threshold of two weekdays and one
weekend day each month; however, employees in 6-day assignments that
work five days a week with one RSIA day and one rest day have a
maximum threshold of one day per month.
3. Employees in Yardmaster service have a maximum threshold of one day
per month.
4. For employees in unassigned and mixed service, there is a maximum
threshold of twenty-five percent of weekdays and weekends, measured
separately. For employees in mixed service this includes any rest
days observed (25% less the total of all rest days equals final
threshold).
5. Note: for rest cycle agreements, time off over and above rest days
is covered in the agreement; however, employees in a rest cycle for
a partial month will be considered in mixed service for that month,
covered by these guidelines.
6. All maximum layoff thresholds outlined above assume the employee
remains marked up the entire period; additional time off (excluded
time) will reduce your threshold (consult with your supervisor or
training documents for clarification).
7. Events such as jury duty, engineer recertification, foot of board,
layoff union or company business, are counted the same as on duty
time; therefore, these events will not affect an employee's
threshold and will not count as an attendance layoff.
8. National Guard, Drill, Training, State Emergencies will also count
the same as on duty time; however, employees will need to provide
their supervisor a copy of their orders or LES for this time to be
counted as available.
9. Time away from work such as periods of vacation, personal leave,
medical leave, time on the bump board, furlough board, or
work/retention board, etc., are considered as "excluded" time
for the purpose of determining the maximum threshold. Excluded
events will affect an employee's threshold, but do not count as an
attendance layoff. (Exception: employees on the bump board who
fail to take notification that are subject to call based on
their last inbound assignment will be charged attendance layoffs
when failure to take notification is 10 hours or greater.)
10. Attendance layoffs such as LOS, LOP, FEM, SIF, etc., may not be
altered at a later date simply because an employee chooses to claim
a PLD or single day vacation after the fact.
11. Any layoff touching a weekend day will be considered a weekend day,
with a 30" grace period (except in the case of jobs with assigned
start times in which the start of the assignment drives the
determination of weekend vs. weekday). As a result, an employee may
be charged with three weekend days for a given week.
12. Any layoff period from 0-25 hours is considered as one unavailable
day (except for five and six day assigned service which is based
on the number of starts missed - each start is an unavailable day).
13. Working a portion of a calendar day does not negate a layoff period
that begins or ends on that day from counting as an unavailable
day for the purpose of attendance.
14. Failure to comply with the single tie-up process will be treated as
an unavailable day.
15. Following discipline for a period, violations in subsequent months
will result in an attendance violation if the total days off in the
following one or two months exceeds the maximum threshold for the
three-month period.
16. We encourage any employee identified as failing to maintain
full-time status under these Guidelines to seek the involvement of
his/her local chairman and to contact his/her supervisor to discuss
options available at BNSF (e.g. Leave of Absence, MLOA, FMLA, etc.).
17. Meeting the criteria of the lay off thresholds under the Attendance
Guidelines does not preclude the company from challenging an
employee's full-time status requirement based on some other
reasonable standard.
The TYE Attendance Guidelines Training Manual is available on the LR
Web-site. Under "Employee Performance Expectations" select "Attendance
Guidelines and Information" and then "TY&E Attendance Guidelines Training
Manual". Along with other important information, the manual outlines time
off for assignments that are not mentioned specifically in the attendance
guidelines.
Local members of the BNSF transportation management team are specifically
empowered to apply these Guidelines considering all relevant information.
Managers should never act in a rigid or "wooden" manner, and in every
case should use "common sense." We also invite and encourage local union
leaders to give their input in the application of these Guidelines in
individual cases, and, generally, to be "part of the process."
BNSF provides for and encourages each employee who knows in advance of a
need to be off to request a pre-approved layoff. However, pre-approved
does not excuse the employee from complying with attendance requirements.
Those types of layoffs that count toward attendance, such as layoff
personal, will continue to count toward the employee's attendance record
even if pre-approved.
II. Discipline handling (including progression and the applicable review
period) for Attendance Guidelines violations follows:
A. Progression
When an employee violates TYE Attendance Guidelines the following
discipline matrix applies. In accordance with BNSF's Policy for
Employee Performance Accountability, where the Attendance Guidelines
provide for an imposition of a Suspension, a supervisor has the
discretion to impose an Actual or Record Suspension.
________________________________________________________________
| Attendance Guideline Record | Result |
|______________________________|_______________________________|
| First violation | 10 day suspension |
|______________________________|_______________________________|
| Second violation | 20 day suspension |
|______________________________|_______________________________|
| Third violation | Employee may be dismissed |
|______________________________|_______________________________|
In addition to the discipline matrix above, dismissal may occur if an
employee has either (1) two active Attendance Guidelines violations
and an active Level S violation, or (2) five rule violations of any
kind in a 12-month period (which may include any combination of
Standard, Serious and Attendance Guidelines violations).
B. Review Period
The TYE Attendance Guidelines review period is an "active" review
period and requires an employee work a period of time which exceeds a
complete 12 month period without another Attendance Guidelines
discipline incident before the prior Attendance Guideline violation is
considered "inactive". However, attendance violations will not be
"cleared" from an employee's record.
Example: Assume an employee commits an Attendance Guidelines
violation for the three month rolling period of February, March,
and April 2021 and receives a 10-day suspension. If the employee
commits an Attendance Guidelines violation for the three month
rolling period of February, March, April 2022, he/she did not work
a period of time which exceeded a complete 12-month period under the
Attendance Guidelines policy. As a result, the 10-day suspension of
February, March, April 2021 remains "active". As such, the
discipline to be assessed for the February, March, April 2022
Attendance Guidelines violation would be a 20-day record suspension.
By contrast, in the example above, assume that the second Attendance
Guidelines violation occurred not in February, March, April 2022,
but rather in the three month rolling period of March, April, May
2022. Under this scenario, the employee did work a period of
time which exceeded a complete 12-month period without an Attendance
Guidelines violation, and as a result, the 10-day suspension of
February, March, April 2021 is now "inactive". As such, the
proper discipline to be assessed for the March, April, May 2022
violation would a 10-day suspension.
GENERAL NOTICE(S) IN EFFECT
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