The Gift of the Guild

'Tis the season to be compensated. If you're working over the holidays, here's what you're entitled to under the Guild contract:

If you work on the actual holiday (Dec. 25 or Jan. 1 in this case): You get overtime for your full shift (fill out a yellow overtime card), plus holiday differential ($5 for Christmas, rising to $7 on New Year's Day, thanks to our new contract; file electronically). Since Christmas and New Year's Day both fall on Sundays this year, you also get weekend differential at the overtime rate ($1.13 an hour, or $9.04 for an 8-hour shift; file electronically). If you're eligible for production differential, that's paid at the overtime rate, too (98 cents an hour, or $7.84 for an 8-hour shift; file electronically). If a holiday falls on a weekday and you work a night shift, the night differential would be paid at the overtime rate ($1.05 an hour, or $8.40 for an 8-hour shift; file electronically).

If you work a night shift on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve: You get overtime for your full shift. Since they're both on Saturdays this year, you also get weekend differential at the overtime rate; if they were on weeknights, you would get night differential at the overtime rate. And if you're eligible for production differential, that is also paid at the overtime rate.

If you work five days in a holiday week (in this case, the week of Dec. 25 or the week of Jan. 1), but not the holiday itself: You get overtime for your full shift on the fifth day (for example, if you work Monday, Dec. 26, and then the rest of the week, you would file for overtime for Friday, Dec. 30). Any night, weekend and/or production differentials for that shift also are paid at the overtime rate.

All of the above provisions apply to both full-timers and part-timers. The only difference is that full-timers get paid holidays off, so any full-timer who works on the holiday automatically gets 8 hours of straight-time pay on their paycheck in addition to the extra money described above.

Questions? See your Guild steward or steward leader. And have a happy holiday season.