FPSLREB Decisions

Compensation - Lay-day system - Ships' Officers - Extra Duty Allowance - the grievor, a Chief Engineer who worked on the lay-day system, reported for work on board ship at 10:30 a.m. to meet with the Chief Engineer, who was going off duty at noon, for a briefing session prior to the grievor assuming his duties as Chief Engineer - under the lay-day system, there is a 28-day on-duty cycle and a 28-day off-duty cycle - during the on-duty cycle, an employee works 12 hours per day and earns one lay-day credit per day worked - the employer denied the grievor's request for compensation at the straight time rate for the time spent at the briefing session and the accumulation of a portion of a lay-day credit - the employer also debited the grievor's lay-day bank until noon - the employer claimed that a recent change to the collective agreement had resulted in the time expended in briefing sessions now being covered by the Extra Duty Allowance provision - a penalty clause had been deleted which had previously provided for compensation at triple time for these briefing sessions - the adjudicator concluded that, following the deletion of the penalty clause from the collective agreement, the time spent in briefing sessions was now covered by the Extra Duty Allowance provision and the grievor was not entitled to any additional compensation therefor - however, as an employee could not be both at work and on lay-days at the same time, the employer was wrong to deduct any lay-day credits for the time expended by the grievor in the briefing session. Grievance allowed in part.