Monday, June 26, 2023
This past Friday, the OPS Employer announced the implementation of a mandatory onsite attendance attestation process for remote workers.
Employees who work remotely, either as part of the Return to the OPS Workplaces policy or an approved Alternative Work Arrangement, will be required to attest to having been onsite for, respectively, the policy’s prescribed three days or the number of days otherwise agreed to with their reporting manager.
For most of the employees working remotely as part of the Return to the Workplace policy, the number of remote days at present is two. For employees with a formal (i.e. Alternative Work Arrangement) or informal agreement with their manager, the number of days worked remotely per week can be anywhere from one to five.
Employees who are on approved leaves (vacation, illness, lieu time, etc.) will be deemed in office on those days, and employees with health accommodations or on Long-Term Income Protection will be exempt.
AMAPCEO is profoundly disappointed that the OPS Employer has chosen to micromanage hybrid work in this manner, especially during a time of government-imposed austerity (Bill 124). AMAPCEO and the OPS’ five other public sector unions and associations—OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union), PEGO (Professional Engineers of the Government of Ontario), ALOC (Association of Law Officers of the Crown), OCAA (Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association), and OPPA (Ontario Provincial Police Association)—jointly submitted a letter to the OPS Employer voicing their strong objection to the onsite attendance attestation process.
Read the union response letter here »
The unions point out that members are already adhering to the direction of their managers on where and when they complete their work, and honestly entering their attendance into the payroll system. They further note that oversight of the workplace and attendance is management’s responsibility, and that if the Employer has concerns about attendance, those concerns should be solely directed toward managers themselves.
The letter concludes with the unions strongly urging the Employer to reconsider its approach. Sadly, that was not the case. Although the release of the policy was delayed by several weeks and ultimately watered down from its original scope, the policy will go into effect as of July 3 with reporting of attendance starting on July 31, 2023.
AMAPCEO encourages all our members in the OPS to attest to their presence at the workplace in the same honest fashion they always have entered their attendance, and to otherwise familiarize themselves with monthly reporting standards.
If you need to alter your approved schedule for reasons other than illness or an approved AWA (Alternative Work Arrangements), we strongly suggest you document your conversation with your reporting manager in writing.
If you have any questions about how the onsite attendance attestation process works, we urge to speak to your reporting manager for clarification. If you have subsequent concerns about the process or its application after your conversation with your manager, you can contact an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative for help. AMAPCEO has reserved its right to dispute any perceived contraventions of the Collective Agreement.
If you have not yet requested an Alternate Work Arrangement but would like one, we strongly encourage you use AMAPCEO’s virtual tool to file your request. Under your Collective Agreement, there is no prescribed maximum number of remote workdays, and your Employer must consider your request in good faith subject to operational viability. Given that employees have been working a minimum of two days remotely per week for over three years now, we encourage members to formalize their arrangement to ensure long-term access to hybrid work.