Are you on a flexible schedule?

Seattle Times management defined who is on a flexible schedule in 2003. They say this list remains "pretty accurate today."

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Memo to Guild Administrative Officer Liz Brown from Seattle Times Labor Analyst Martin Hammond dated March 17, 2003. (Some of the members identified by name in this memo are no longer in the bargaining unit.):

RE: Flexible and 4x10 Schedules Information Request

Dear Liz:

Please find below our responses to your requests for information:

1. The following individuals are on flexible schedules as defined in Article 14 of our labor agreement. When all individuals in a classification or department are on flexible schedules, I have simply listed the name of the classification.

All District Advisers and Assistant District Advisers
All employees in the Promotions Department
All employees in the Advertising Graphics Department
All Outside Sales Representatives
All Commission Sales Representatives
All part-time Customer Sales Representatives
All Newsroom Employees in job group A1
(Asst. Art Director, Book Editor, Columnist, Desk Editor, Editorial Cartoonist, Editorial Writer, News Page Designer, On-Line News Editor, Pacific NW Arts Director, Pacific NW Associate Editor, Second Asst. Metro Editor, Troubleshooter)
All Newsroom Employees in job group A3
(News Artist, Online Posting Editor, Photographer, Reporter, Computer- Assisted Reporting Specialist)
All Zone Reporters
All News Residents
All Resale and Permissions Specialists I

Nyssa Rogers
Gary Daugherty
Ariadne Barboa
Danyelle Lesch
Kale Kim
Doug Knoop
Julie Walsh
Mark Yuasa
Kathy Baldwin
Linda Charles
Claudia Denholm
Vance Julien
Kathy Shrauner
Steven Yong
Mikel Cassel
Dean Desilet
Harley Donner
Dru Fleming
Greg Tolmie
Michelle Lyle
Sandra Mendoza
Ruth St. Hilaire (Part Time)
Wanda Buckmaster
Rick Medeiros
Vicki Perry
Janell VanDusen
Clark Alvey
Eddy Ingersoll
Elaine Phillips
Julianne Eng
Lea Riley
Patrice Baugh
Sue Gregurich
Susie Marin
Terry Bergren
Tina Walters
Holly Splittgerber
Dan Boulton
Daniel Cifuentes
Gwen Dinish
Gregg Rice
Jenni Malarz
Terry Boyd
Jeff Hutchinson

2. In the case of District Advisers and Assistant District Advisers, the positions have been operating on flexible schedules for many years. Consequently it has not been necessary for anyone to request to be on one.

In the Promotions and Advertising Graphics departments, individuals have periodically requested to adjust their schedules to allow them to attend to personal issues. In these cases, they make up for the time they are away during other days of the week. As the need arises, we sometimes designate individuals to work flexible schedules usually for short periods of time.

Of the named individuals above, the following requested to be on flexible schedules on the approximate dates listed next to their names. In the newsroom, managers have not tracked request dates but have worked with employees on a case-by-case basis to address scheduling challenges. Consequently, their status would be more accurately described as by mutual agreement (MA):
Clark Alvey March 2002
Dan Boulton Summer 2001
Nyssa Rogers MA
Gary Daugherty MA
Ariadne Barboa MA
Danyelle Lesch MA
Kale Kim MA
Doug Knoop MA
Julie Walsh MA
Mark Yuasa MA

3. All positions covered under the Guild's labor agreement are coded in our payroll system as non-exempt. We have not, however, done a recent audit of all positions and the individuals in them to determine if other positions might more accurately be classified as exempt. The specific facts would have to be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine which, if any, positions are consistent with exemption from overtime pay requirements of the FLSA.

While we do consider many of our Outside and Commission Sales Representatives to be exempt from overtime, we also recognize that there are circumstances in which an employee can change from exempt to non-exempt depending on the work performed in a given period. However, Advertising management is not aware of any Outside or Commission Sales Representative who has worked more than 40 hours in a given week while also working in a non-exempt manner.

We do, of course, reserve the right to enforce Article 14.4 of our contract at some later date. Should we later determine that other positions qualify as exempt from the FLSA, we will rely on Article 26.2 of our agreement which provides that "the failure of the Union or Publisher to enforce any of the provisions of the Agreement or exercise its rights granted by law shall not be deemed a waiver of such right."

4. The following individuals work 4x10 schedules.
Theresa Kohn
Kathi Wheeler
Justin Mayo
Judy Averill
John Gomes
Ranny Green
Yoko Kuramoto
Angela Lo
Marsue Page
Val Phinney
Becky Teagarden
David Birdwell
Rob Davila
Lynn Mucken
Tracey Spenser
Marc Oliver
Ed Wenick
Linda Byrd
Gwen Dinish

Finally, you said that some employees had been informed by managers that there was no comp time program at The Seattle Times. That was an error. There is a comp time policy in place for Guild employees and it is outlined in Article 14.7 of our agreement.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Martin Hammond
Labor Relations Analyst