URA Grieves Time Charged to Members When Campus Closed

“If my campus was officially closed because of the weather emergency, how can you justify charging me personal time for not coming into my closed office on my closed campus?” asked Newark Campus lead steward Dorothy Grauer. Yet Newark and Camden URA members find themselves in just that situation and the union has filed a grievance.

Had Rutgers management made the right decision and closed New Brunswick Campus offices on Feb. 10 and 11, New Brunswick members would not have to charge personal time when it was not safe to come to work. Now university management has informed Newark and Camden Campus workers that they will lose personal time during delayed openings on Feb. 11—while their campuses were closed.

Management claims that because of their decision to keep New Brunswick offices open (which URA has already grieved), the university was not officially closed. They say that since the other campuses were closed (or had delayed openings) the university policy limiting excused time to one day applies. The union is grieving based on article 48 University Closings, which specifies that when the university is closed members are not charged for time out of the office.