Know Your Contract
Hours of Work
Am I entitled to overtime? Do I have to work Sundays? Can my hours be reduced?
The hours of work article of your collective bargaining agreement contains many important provisions that are essential to know. Such issues as the definition of full-time and part-time employment, when your schedule must be posted, when you receive overtime, how overtime is scheduled, how you become eligible for overtime pay, who may be assigned to work on Saturdays and Sundays, how work outside of store selling hours is scheduled, etc.
Below are some questions and answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about hours of work, followed by the actual contract lanuage.
 I was hired as a full-time, forty-hour employee. Can my weekly hours be reduced below forty?
 Yes. All full-time employees hired after April 1, 1992 may be scheduled to work from 30 to 40 hours per week (see Section A page 14).
Am I entitled to overtime pay?
Yes. You are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours work in a week, or after 8 hours work in a day, or—if you are regularly scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week—on your 6th day of work in a week (see Sections B, C, D and E page 15). Special provisions apply to work on a Union holiday (see ARTICLE XII: HOLIDAYS, page 17 for details).
Do I have to work on Saturdays and/or Sundays?
Yes. All employees may be scheduled to work on Saturdays and/or Sundays, but there are very specific rules regarding such weekend work relating to pay, selection, and frequency (see Sections F and G page 15, and Sections H, I, and J page 16).
As a salesperson, can I be regularly scheduled to start work before the store opens or to end work after the store closes?
Yes. You can be regularly scheduled to either start or end work up to one half hour prior to store opening or one half hour after store closing, but not both. This includes Saturday and Sunday work (see Section L, page 16).
WHAT THE CONTRACT SAYS
ARTICLE X: HOURS OF WORK
SECTION A: The regular hours of work for all full-time employees hired prior to April 1, 1992 shall be forty (40) hours (except for the Stamford store selling personnel for whom the regular hours shall be thirty-seven and one-half (37-1/2) hours), five (5) days per week, not to exceed eight (8) hours in any one day, with one (1) unpaid meal period. The regular hours of work for all full-time employees hired on or after April 1, 1992 shall be thirty (30) to forty (40) hours, four (4) to five (5) days per week, as scheduled in advance by the Employer, not to exceed eight (8) hours in any one day, with one (1) unpaid meal period.
SECTION B: All employees shall, upon request of the Employer, work a reasonable amount of overtime. Overtime shall be distributed equitably among the employees in the affected groupings. Among non-selling employees, volunteers shall be solicited first. Non-selling employees shall not be required to work overtime on less than two (2) hours' notice for pre-shift overtime or post-shift overtime, except in emergency circumstances, and shall be excused from such overtime in the case of extenuating personal circumstances.
SECTION C: All employees shall receive overtime pay for hours in excess of forty (40) per week or eight (8) per day. Employees regularly scheduled to work thirty (30) or more hours in a week shall receive overtime for hours worked on days in excess of five (5) days per week.
SECTION D: Overtime pay shall be at the rate of one and one-half times the employee's straight-time hourly rate (i.e., Base Salary Rate for selling employees). There shall be no pyramiding of overtime or other premium pay.
SECTION E: Each selling employee shall be required to devote a reasonable amount of time to complete a sale if such employee is working on a sale at the close of the day. No employee shall receive overtime pay unless such overtime work shall have been previously authorized by the employee's manager or such overtime work is reasonably necessary to complete a sale while the employee is engaged with a customer.
SECTION F: Except as provided below for the Liberty Plaza store, Sunday work for regular full-time selling employees may be scheduled as a fifth (5th) day. Full-time selling employees regularly scheduled to work forty (40) hours per week shall receive eight (8) hours pay for up to eight (8) hours worked on a Sunday scheduled as a fifth (5th) day. Full-time selling employees regularly scheduled to work less than forty (40) hours per week shall receive one-fifth (1/5th) of their regularly scheduled weekly hours for up to such number of hours worked on a Sunday scheduled as a fifth (5th) day. If an employee subject to such Sunday pay guarantee is late for work, the following rules shall apply: (i) if the employee is late one-half (1/2) hour or less, the employee shall receive the guarantee less time late in fifteen (15) minute increments; (ii) on the first occurrence of lateness of more than one-half (1/2) hour, the guarantee shall be prorated based upon the amount of lateness compared to the employee's scheduled hours for the day; and (iii) on the second (2nd) or subsequent occurrence of lateness of more than one-half (1/2) hour, the employee shall lose the guarantee and be paid for actual hours worked.
SECTION G: No selling employee hired before April 1, 1994 who is regularly scheduled to work thirty (30) hours or more shall be mandatorily assigned to work more than twenty-six (26) Sundays per calendar year.
SECTION H: The Employer, in its discretion, may assign part-time, seasonal and temporary employees to work on Sundays. Thereafter, the order for assigning employees to work on Sundays shall be: i) volunteers among full-time selling employees in seniority order; ii) non-volunteers among full-time selling employees in inverse seniority order on a rotating basis.
SECTION I: In the Liberty Plaza store, any Sunday shall be scheduled and compensated as a sixth (6th) day for regular full-time hires prior to April 1, 1997. All other employees may be scheduled for Sundays as part of their regular week. Full-time selling employees scheduled to work Saturday as a fifth (5th) day shall receive the same pay guarantee as is applicable to Sunday work in other stores, as provided in Section F above. Employees hired prior to April 1, 2000 shall not be scheduled to work more than twenty-six (26) Saturdays per calendar year as a fifth (5th) day.
SECTION J: A full-time employee who works on a Sunday may elect to have a Saturday off, as designated by the Employer on either the preceding or following Saturday. Employees scheduled to take vacation shall not be scheduled to work on the Sunday immediately preceding or following their scheduled vacation.
SECTION K: Work schedules shall be posted at least two (2) weeks in advance.
SECTION L: Selling employees in all stores except Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue may be regularly scheduled to work outside of store selling hours, as follows: thirty (30) minutes before store opening or thirty (30) minutes after store closing, all days. The foregoing shall not affect the Employer's right to schedule selling employees to work outside of store selling hours during inventory.
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