August 2007: Greetings everyone! I am Katie Nix, the Chief Steward of Chapter 293. I work as a staff accountant in a relatively new office, Corporation Finance Information Technology. As Chief Steward, I coordinate the representational work of NTEU Chapter 293 stewards at the SEC.

Why did I answer the call to serve as the Chief Steward? Throughout my 37 years of service to the SEC, staff members have come to me with problems they have encountered at work. The union now provides a vehicle through which management and the union can work together to resolve those problems.

One example of the union’s important role in resolving problems occurred recently in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations. Some SEC managers have refused to accept the standard medical certificates furnished by an HMO to explain a medical absence. They often request additional information that doctors may refuse to provide. Staff members can be caught in the middle. Each time they visit their doctor, their managers consider them “Absent Without Leave” (AWOL) instead of on sick leave.

AWOL is a very serious matter. A series of AWOLs can lead to a “leave restriction,” requiring the staff member to present a medical certificate for an absence of even a few hours. A continued series of AWOLs can result in the staff member being fired. In some cases, staff members may even be forced to choose between keeping their jobs and prematurely ending their medical treatment simply because their supervisors refuse to accept standard documentation provided by their doctors.

Through the efforts of the union’s bargaining team, Article 28 (Sick Leave) of the CBA will now spell out the necessary information required on a medical certificate: (1) the actual date(s) seen by the medical provider; (2) the probable duration of incapacity and/or return to work date; (3) an affirmative statement by the medical provider that the employee is unable to work during the period of the incapacity; and (4) the certificate must be an original and must contain the employee’s name and the medical provider’s name and address, and must be properly signed by the medical provider.

It is of critical importance that we have clear rules when it comes to things like documenting sick leave. A change like this one will serve staff members and managers well in the future, and shows one of the many ways that the union assists SEC employees.