A MEMBER OF THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board criticized agency officials on Monday for presenting data on employee absenteeism in a way that made it appear union workers were irresponsibly taking days off.
Brian Lang, who serves on the board and heads a union himself, bristled at a series of slides showing the percentage of workers with unscheduled absences in the many job categories at the T during the three-month period ending June 30. The percentages ran from a low of 2.5 percent for nonunion executives to a high of 19.5 percent for call center workers. Overall, the percentage was 7.68 percent for all T workers, down from 7.85 percent in the prior quarter.
Lang said the data gave the impression that T workers were irresponsibly skipping work, leaving their supervisors in the lurch. But he said many of the absences included in the data are absences that are cleared ahead of time by the employee, including leaves approved under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said the T also knows when employee won’t be showing up at work because they are on a workers compensation leave or are excused with no pay.
“These are examples of things that are scheduled,” Lang said, suggesting they shouldn’t be categorized as unscheduled. “There’s an implication here that people are being irresponsible. The workers have taken a beating on this issue.”
One slide showed the unscheduled absence rate among transportation operators was 11.3 percent during the second quarter of this year. But a breakdown showed that 64 percent of the absences came in the categories cited by Lang – leaves under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, workers compensation, and where the employee was excused with no pay.
Joseph Aiello, the chairman of the control board, said he agreed with Lang and urged T officials to present the data differently in the future.
MBTA officials seemed to have difficulty understanding Lang’s concerns. Janice Brochu, the T’s chief human resources officer, said the overall thrust of her presentation was that the MBTA is doing a much better job at policing various types of leaves. She noted, for example, that the percentage of employees with Family and Medical Leave Act certification had fallen from 32 percent in June 2015 to 21 percent in June 2017. She said the percentage of employees taking five or more days off under the Family and Medical Leave Act was down from 33.5 percent in fiscal 2015 to 28.36 percent in fiscal 2017, which ended June 30. She said workers were also taking less time off under the Americans with Disabilities Act and fewer workers were being approved for the leaves.
Brochu said 41 employees had been terminated so far this year for attendance violations, compared to 24 in fiscal 2016 and 32 in fiscal 2015. She said 73 employees are currently serving either three-day, five-day, or 70-day suspensions for attendance violations as part of a progressive discipline track, with the final step being termination.
Baker hates unions, plain and simple, Teachers, Nurses, Longshoremen, Police, Fire, AFLCIO, Local 103, Local 22, Pipefitters, Local 33, Local 264….they should all get together for 2018
Baker has distorted the fact. Let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks is his motive.
Savings. The real facts need to be seen. Who pays rent for these private companies. Are they OSHA compliant because they have to be because they are private. The MBTA does not and the work conditions are deplorable. Management is ignorant and blissful at best. Retaliation is commonplace at the T for safety violations. Most of the managers have never ever had hands on experience and wouldn’t know the right end of a bolt to use in a hole. They complain about how much work they have when it’s very little and the work they have they can’t even do correctly or professionally. Instead they blame every one else except the one in the mirror. Why would I listen to frontline employees. They know better always.
the baker admin. started this crap by saying that T workers were taking 57 days a year off. thanks for debunking the B.S.