Conference 7.286::digital

    Our manufacturing plants here closed last year for Christmas. As
    far as I know, there was no change in the regularly scheduled work
    hours and any overtime was treated as such. The total work days
    closed were nine and it was taken from any vacation days you had
    accumulated or not paid if you didn't want vacation time taken off. 
    For those, like myself who didn't have enough vacation days, but
    did want to be paid, you "borrowed" time from the future. 
 
    There are no plans for this Christmas : ).

    Your specific questions should be directed to the management in
    the plant - they're the only ones who know what the answers are.
    	Dee
    

    Would Jewish individuals that observe the Sabbath or Sabbitarian
    Christians, such as Seventh-day Adventists, be required to use
    vacation time since they won't work on Saturday?

    If a person has already used up all of their vacation time and can't
    work on Saturdays I guess this means they don't get paid.  To some
    people on a tight budget this could hurt.  It seems that the plant
    should announce this decision well in advance so employees can plan
    for such.

    It also seems that plants in the U.S. should follow the corporate
    holiday schedule, and not try to get cute.  This idea sounds like
    an attempt to increase productivity by making employees work Saturdays,
    instead of the usually unproductive days between Christmas and New
    Year's.
    
    I don't know what the practice is for non-U.S. plants, but I would
    assume there are area-wide calendars.

    It's too absurd to comment on, but I'll try.
    
    How on earth can the schedule in .0 be announced _without_ at the
    same time answering all the questions in .0?
    
    Was page two of the announcement memo missing?

    I saw the memo too, and no, it didn't answer any of those questions.
    
    The other obnoxious thing about Saturdays is, even for those who
    aren't prevented from working for religious reasons, those Saturdays
    are often quite busy with holiday shopping and other preparations.
    
    I believe the memo also did not address power availability / computer
    down time, or even exceptions to the plant closing; and whether both
    buildings in the cluster (and the other groups) are affected.       
    
    Oh well, I was planning on being in another part of the country
    during that time, anyway.

    My first year with DEC, at the Mill, this same policy was in effect...
    
    Let me try to epxlain what was done (as far as my memory will allow)
    as this SEEMS to be the same way.
    
    An EXEMPT employee was given the choice of working overtime an X
    number of hours that was equal to what it would take to make up
    for the days you were going to be off. (I can't remember the X)...
    My office did it by doing three Saturdays.  However, I have three
    kids and no sitter, so my boss let me work an extra hour each day,
    for X many days, so it was EXTREMELY flexible.  We were also given
    the choice of NOT working any extra overtime, and taking vacation
    time.  EVERYBODY in our office took the overtime.  You HAD to do
    one or the other.
    
    For an NON-EXEMPT employee, if was a little different, and since
    I did not fall into that category, I did not read it too closely,
    but I BELEIVE it was they were NOT given the option of the overtime,
    they had to take vacation time, OR take the time without pay.
    
    Again, the mill shut down last year too (only parts of it)... but
    if you are worried about the overtime being on Saturdays, go to
    your boss and work out a different schedule... My understanding
    is that managment is very understanding to come to a mutual agreement.
    
    Hope this helps...
    
    
    		- Gale
    
    P.S.  We had a computer "Holiday" schedule also, and had to publish
    that, so our users would know what would be running and when.

    This should upset you Americans but...
    
    What your plant is doing is illegal in most countries in Europe!
    Over here, the company shuts up shop, the company pays. It cannot
    put you in a situation where you lose out nor can it oblige you
    to work outside your normal terms nd conditions of employment.
    
    In France, it is worse still - they would have to ask the Work
    Inspectorate for permission (which is rarely granted).
    
    Gavin
    Ferney Voltaire, France

	I was at the BTO facility when something like this was done
    4 and 5 years ago.  It was handled very well, I thought.  For the
    hourly people, they were instructed on keeping track of and banking
    their Saturday overtime, as Federal Regs prevented DEC from holding
    the money to pay them during the shutdown.  Those of us in the exempt
    ranks also were expected to work overtime and lost no pay under
    the reasoning that it would be Comp Time for us during the shutdown.
    I remember having to keep a time card and turning it in every week
    to make certain my time off could be defended.  For those who could
    not work Saturdays, other arrangements were made (working extra
    shifts, etc.).  We were also allowed the option of ignoring the
    whole policy and taking the time as Vacation.
    
    	It seems to me that what's missing here is the up-front education
    and information effort which I benefitted from.  I can remember
    the uproar which resulted when we were told the Plant would NOT
    shut down for the 3rd Christmas in a row!  People really enjoyed
    the time off.
    
    							-Steve

    	My feelings on these matters usually never run along with the
    way things are done. We (Hudson Chip Fabs) shutdoen last year because
    the time off so disrupts the manufacturing schedule. To ramp up
    and shut down a semiconductor fab is a horror story, which is
    altogether another story. Anyway, to make up for lost time during
    the shutdown we worked the saturdays in December and the first two
    in Janruary.  I thought it would have been better to run two Saturdays
    and Sundays in a row and work into the shutdown.
    
    My real feeling on the matter is this: If the plant staff wants
    to shut down, then the company should take the bite for time out.
    If the shutdown is scheduled in the previous Janruary, then that's
    a different story and vacations should be the order of the day.
    
    Too often long range planning for some managers is only one or two
    months. It should be a standard that all shutdowns, holidays, etc.
    are planned well in advance and not be a surprise to those who used
    up 3 weeks to go Disney World in September.
    
    Ken

  I work in the same plant as the writer of the original note. We
were notified of the vacation shutdown around Oct. 8. The plant
manager sent a memo to everybody; I'll enter the test in another
reply if I have time.
  Three days ago our supervisor dropped a bomb: Nobody will be allowed
to substitute time worked during the shutdown for Saturday work.
The plant will be open during the shutdown but it will be like a
Sunday: after-hours log in use, caf closed, etc. But there is no
point in coming in if we won't get credit for the time. This leaves
only two alternatives: take vacation time or work on Saturday.
Wage class people who don't have vacation time might have the
alternative of taking the time off without pay.
  The situation is complicated by the fact that there is a second
building on the site that houses a group that is NOT taking a
shutdown on Dec. 28-30. This means neither plant can shut down
completely. 
  This shutdown is NOT taking place because of a reduced work-
load. It is apparently being done because a large number of pro-
duction workers wanted to take the time off and it was thought
that the operation (I.C. testing) could not operate efficiently
with a large number of people out. There was no vote or plantwide
discussion of how the time would be made up. It is possible that
this was discussed with the production groups, but I work for an
engineering group and had no inkling that there might be a shut-
down until I got the notice. 
   For many people, a Saturday in December is the worst possible
time to work. On the other hand, the week between Christmas and
New Year's is a bad time for many people to take a vacation. The
airlines and airports are terribly crowded and the weather is too
fickle to plan on a long trip by car or bus. The memo says, "We are
happy to provide this opportunity and hope it will add to your
enjoyment of the holiday season. If you have any specific questions
on this extended holiday break, please contact your supervisor or
manager." This shutdown is not adding to my pleasure or that of
many of my coworkers, and our manager didn't have the answers to
a lot of our burning questions. 

    oh, why not !
    
    (is this a flame ?)
    I am told by various and sundry management types, and Personnel,
    that I am salaried.  Therefore, I should expect to put forth whatever
    time is necessary to get my job done, without expectation of extra
    compensation (overtime).  If I must put in an extra 1 - 5 hours
    a night for the next 6 months, well, that's what being an engineer
    is all about.  I'm paid to do a job; 40 hours or 100 hours a
    week.  
    
    I can live, quite happily, with that.  But that happiness asuumes
    the existence of reciprocity.  If my work load ( or efficiency )
    allows me to knock off my current project in 30 hours, does that
    mean I can leave ?  On occaision seems fine.  However, the hard
    part about the shutdowns, both at DEC and other companies, is that
    while I am told I am salaried, so should look for no extra
    compensation, I am also told that I must "make up" for any lost
    time that the company itself generates.
    
    If my personal time can be cavalierly disrupted without extra
    compensation because my total annual pay has already been defined,
    then I, as a salaried professional, should NOT be monetarily penalized
    for a company shutdown.
    
    I wonder if anyone has ever challenged the legality of docking a
    salaried worker's pay in this respect ?

   I also feel as the writer of 215.5 feels, and that is that site management
should not try to manipulate holiday/vacation schedules.  Many of the people
with whom I have spoken feel that management has tried to schedule this
shutdown to maximize the plant efficiency.  However, even giving credit that
management sincerely wanted to provide a "good will" long holiday, this
situation has been handled in a totally thoughtless manner.

   The problem begins when management assumes that it knows better what the
employees want.  Sure, many people probably wanted the Christmas/New Year
week off, but it is their responsibility to save vacation days for that
purpose.  However, many other employees were not interested in the extended
closing, myself included.  We were given two choices, either work the three
Saturdays in December or use vacation days.  The first option has essentially
eliminated any of the fun involved in holiday preparation.  The second option
forces employees to waste valuable vacation days at a non-preferred time.
Fortunately, a few managers have independently allowed their people to work
alternate compensatory days, but the whole situation has been a bad joke.

   There were other problems with the closing.  It was announced at a late
date, no "official" alternatives were allowed, etc.  Problems such as this
one could easily be avoided if management confined its efforts to business
and would just stay out of employees' personal lives.

  My earlier statement that the shutdown was scheduled because the
production test dept can't work efficiently with a lot of people on
vacation has been refuted by the production manager. In fact, they
are planning to do production testing on first shift during the
shutdown. 
  The personnel manager recently issued a 5-page memo to answer some
of the questions people have been asking. It says the shutdown was
scheduled because it was thought that it would cause a problem if
all the people who wanted to take the time off took it off without
a shutdown. However, it is still a mystery which group(s) would be
adversely affected by having a high percentage of their workforce
on vacation.
  The policy that people in engineeering groups may not work during
the shutdown because of "no supervisor on site" is still in effect.
They made an exception for me because I was the first one to ask to
work during this time and the production dept may need help from a
test engr.  
  Mr. Farrington raised a good point about mandatory overtime without
pay for wage class 4 people. 
  I think plant managers should have the right to declare up to 5
extra holidays a year to cover holiday shutdowns. Very few people
would object to a shutdown if it was handled this way.