Protecting Your Vacation Accruals

Dear OCEA County member,

One of the problematic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the subsequent inability of many OCEA members to obtain approval for their vacation requests. This has led to yet another unfair outcome–OCEA members approaching or reaching their accrued vacation caps.

It's a vicious cycle. First, the County allows the number of vacant positions to continue to expand exponentially. More vacancies mean fewer current workers who are unfairly confronted with unsustainable increased workloads. Then, the County (which is 100% responsible for the vacancies in the first place) uses high workload as an excuse to deny vacation requests. As worker requests are denied, and as many other workers don't bother to submit requests because they know the request will be denied, accrued vacation hours reach caps. Those caps may be justifiable in normal times, but not in the current environment the County has created.

Over the past several months, we have continuously pressured the County to expedite its recruitment process immediately. While those efforts have yielded some modest increases in hiring, the County has not dramatically increased the pace, so we continue to apply pressure in every possible way. 

But until the County fulfills its responsibility to hire enough workers, the vacation cap problem must be confronted and resolved. We have recommended several temporary and permanent measures the County can take, and they are all relatively simple to implement. To date the County has rejected our recommendations, but we know there are fair, doable steps the County can take to remedy the needless consequences of its inaction. 

We'll continue to pressure the County to hire more workers. We'll continue to pressure the County to remedy excessive workloads. We'll continue to pressure the County to honor its obligation to grant the time off you have earned. If you'd like to be a part of that effort for yourself and for your co-workers, join the OCEA Union Action Team here.

In Solidarity,

Charles Barfield
OCEA General Manager

Publication Date: September 22, 0022