A settlement reached between the Guild and CBC management will stop the inclusion of premiums for work on a statutory holiday in new overtime buyouts. The two sides have agreed that the collective agreement does not allow for the buyout of paid holidays.

The Guild filed a grievance after learning that paid holidays were being included in overtime buyouts. In at least one case, an employee was told she was not entitled to holiday pay because she had a buyout agreement, even though that agreement didn’t explicitly list paid holidays.

Employees must be paid a premium of time-and-a-half for every holiday that they work, whether they have an overtime buyout or not. The premium is in addition to the regular pay all employees receive for paid holidays. Eleven paid holidays are listed in our collective agreement (Article 64). Provincial and municipal holidays are also paid and vary by province and city.

Overtime buyouts are voluntary. They are contracts between individual employees and management for a payment in lieu of overtime premiums that is based on an estimated amount of overtime the employee will perform during the period of the contract. The employee can’t claim more compensation after the fact, even if they are required to work more overtime than anticipated. For this reason, the Guild doesn’t recommend that members agree to overtime buyouts.

For more information, get in touch with the Guild (info@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.