Representation Resources
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Current UC Contracts
Research Professionals Unit (RX)
Technical Professionals Unit (TX)
Healthcare Professionals Unit (HX)
Local Agreements
Care Coordination Exempt Holidays – CSWs/CMs (UCLA)
Extra Shift Differential Plan – Clinical Lab Scientists (UCLA)
Accretion Agreements
Physical Therapist Accretion TA 9/2016
• Signed TA
• UCB
• UCLA
• UCSB
• UCD
• UCSF
• UCI
• UCSDCase Manager Accretion TA 7/2010
Other Agreements
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Your Rights in the Workplace: Discipline, Termination and Just Cause
An extremely important right guaranteed by a union contract is that an employee can only be disciplined or terminated for "just cause." Just cause means the employer cannot exercise the power to discipline and fire for capricious, arbitrary or discriminatory reasons. Specifically, just cause requires the following:
NOTICE. Management must give the employee warning or notice that the employee is violating a rule or policy, and must tell the employee what the rule or policy is.
REASONABLE. The rule or policy must be reasonable and related to the orderly, efficient and safe operation of the university.
INVESTIGATION. The employer must make an investigation to determine whether the employee did in fact violate the rule or policy cited.
FAIR INVESTIGATION. The investigation must be conducted fairly and objectively.
EVIDENCE. The university must have solid evidence of the violation of the rule or policy. You are entitled to receive copies of this evidence.
EQUAL TREATMENT. The rules or policies must be applied equally. They cannot be applied in a disparate, discriminatory or arbitrary manner.
APPROPRIATE. The discipline must be appropriate and reasonably related to (a) the seriousness of the employee's proven offense and (b) the record of the employee.
An important corollary is that discipline must be progressive. It is intended to correct a problem, not to be punitive. Management must give the employee a reasonable opportunity to correct the problem for which discipline was imposed. More severe discipline, including termination, can only follow after lesser discipline has been imposed.
If you are facing discipline, analyze your situation using the above criteria, then contact UPTE for help.
• UPTE Discrimination/Complaint Checklist
• Arbitration Review Committee Process
Steward Tip: Comp Time or Pay for Overtime Worked
Animal Care departments at various campuses are juggling schedules of animal technicians so that they do not have to pay them for any overtime when they come to work on weekends and holidays. Our contract, TX/RX Article 13, states that regular work schedules are 8 hours a day and 5 days a week.
Employees may request alternative work schedules by the procedure described in the same contract article, but management does not have the right to impose another schedule. UPTE-CWA will be challenging schedules where employees’ hours are shortened during the week so that when they are forced to work on the weekend, they get no overtime. Contact your UPTE-CWA stewards for more information or questions.
Steward Tip: UC Must Follow Law That Protects Victims of Sexual/Domestic Assault
Disability accommodation for victim of sexual/domestic assault :
It is often the case where the employee's physician provides a diagnosis of disability together with prescription for workplace accommodation which, includes a reduced work-week that the employee has insufficient sick leave, vacation leave, and FMLA to protect the job. The California Labor Code specifically provides victims of sexual/domestic assault with job protection.
In a recent stewarding case, the UCSF campus labor relations office responded that UC did not have to comply with California state labor law and therefore would not provide the protection the law provides.
UCSF’s disability manager, in conjunction with the UCSF director of Center for Gender Equity (whom UPTE contacted; each campus has one) was able to obtain an unpaid leave (in this particular case, sick leave, vacation leave, and FMLA leave were not sufficiently accrued) for the duration of the physician's requested accommodation. This saved the union from taking this egregious miscarriage of justice to the public through media, governmental officials, UC donors.
For the future, UPTE will now file RFIs (Requests for Information), possibly at each campus, to obtain policy in writing and then to use the policy to change the practice; draft is attached.
An additional note for this case is that the physician provided a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder disability. This is a formal disability and requires accommodation. The diagnosis of disability may also provide standing for the employee to apply for short-term disability insurance, which is mandatorily provided by UC through Liberty Mutual insurance company, in lieu of California State Disability Insurance. During the payments, short-term disability insurance may require a larger employee contribution to medical insurance than what the employee normally pays.
For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, currently San Francisco Kaiser provides an excellent outpatient treatment plan of 3 days each week, and UCSF provides an excellent outpatient treatment plan of 5 days each week.
As an additional stewarding note: it is important in all situations which involve medical information, that the employee be advised to transmit medical information only to the campus disability manager. This person acts as a trained HIPAA officer to get all medical details relevant to evaluating the employee's ability, to perform the essential functions of the job, and to discuss only the physician's requested accommodations with the employee's departmental human resources and supervisor. It is quite common for the steward to discover that the employee has already released HIPAA protected medical information to the supervisor. In this case, the employee should be advised to refrain from this practice in the future.
In line with this intent for medical privacy, the employee will have to notify the disability manager that the manager is expected to discuss, the case and any meetings, with the union steward who is representing the employee. The steward must be very careful not to release HIPAA information unless directed (in writing/email) by the employee as to what to reveal and to whom. We have found that it is useful to remind the disability manager not to release medical information other than the requested accommodation to the employee's department/supervisor.
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• Personnel Policies for UC Staff Members
• Labor contracts for other UC unions
• Worker’s Compensation Managers
Past UPTE Agreements
Research Professionals Unit (RX)
• December 20, 2013 – September 30, 2017
• July 01, 2008 – June 30, 2013
• June 30, 2003 – September 30, 2004
Technical Professionals Unit (TX)
• December 20, 2013 – September 30, 2017
• July 01, 2008 – June 30, 2013
• June 30, 2003 – September 30, 2004
• July 30, 2001 – September 4, 2002
Healthcare Professionals Unit (HX)
• December 20, 2013 – October 31, 2017
• September 25, 1999 – April 30, 2003
Local Agreements
• Care Coordination Exempt Holidays – CSWs/CMs (UCLA)
• Extra Shift Differential Plan – Clinical Lab Scientists (UCLA)
Physical Therapist Accretion TA 9/2016
• UCB
• UCLA
• UCSB
• UCD
• UCSF
• UCI
• UCSD
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• Counseling Psychologist 4 Unit Modification 12/15
• Pharmacist 5 Unit Modification 10/23
• Educational Technology Specialist 3 & 4 10/23
• CHPR Accretion Agreement 5/2023
• Rehabilitative Services Specialist 4 and Speech Pathologist 3 Unit Modification Order 07/2020
• Sys Admin ULP Settlement Agreement 11/2022
• BHC ULP Settlement Agreement 08/2022
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• EEOC (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
• FEHA (Fair Employment and Housing Act)
• HEERA (Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act): state law that defines the relationship between the University, its employees and their unions. Many of the University’s personnel policies refer to HEERA and it is the basis of all of the union contracts.
• PERB (Public Employee Relations Board): governs UC employment practices, and the State of California’s Labor Code.
• OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration): includes a wealth of information about workplace safety as well as the addresses of the OSHA offices in California where you can file complaints or ask for assistance.
• American Arbitration Association: especially useful is the National Rules for the Resolution of Employment Dispute.
• US Department of Labor: provides information on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
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To download or view a summary of layoff and preferential rehire practices by campus or worksite, please click here.
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• Workers’ rights under Cal/OSHA and OSHA
• Workers’ Compensation Information
• Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program Information (UCLA)
• Work Re-Organization: A Hazard to Workers’ Health and Safety (AFL-CIO Department of Safety and Health)
• Mesothelioma Resource Center
• Behavioural safety schemes: A union viewpoint
Starting January 1, 2005, California employers will have more power to control medical care for injured workers, due to the new workers’ comp bill passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. An injured worker used to be able to choose any doctor after the first month of treatment is completed. After January 1, if you are injured on the job, you will have to pick from a pool of doctors who belong to tightly controlled physician networks organized by employers and their insurers.
That is, unless you “predesignate” your physician. Employers who provide group health insurance, as UC does, must allow you to choose your doctor to treat your injury, but only if you submit a personal physician form to your employer. Even if you have previously completed such a form, do it again because the laws have changed.
The physician must agree to be predesignated, have previously treated you, and be in possession of your medical records. There is currently a legal debate about whether your physician must actually sign the form designating him or her as your treating physician. But don't delay. Fill out this form and send it in -- with your doctor's signature if possible to protect you from any changes that may arise around the interpretation of the new workers' comp law. Give it to your departmental human resources manager, and keep a copy for yourself.
If you need more information or help, contact your local UPTE representative.