East Central Ambulance Association Collective Agreement 2025 - 2028

Article 14: Annual Vacation

1. Vacation Entitlement
   Each year of continuous service with the ECAA entitles a regular full-time Employee to earn vacation with pay, based on the number of months worked during the vacation year. The rate of vacation accrual is determined by the Employee’s total length of continuous full-time employment, as follows:

   1. during the first (1st) to third (3rd) years of continuous full-time employment, an   Employee shall earn entitlement to vacation calculated on a basis of twelve (12) working days, which is equivalent to one hundred and forty-four (144) hours; or

   2. from the fourth (4th) to the seventh (7) years of continuous full-time employment and onward, an Employee shall earn entitlement to vacation calculated on a basis of sixteen (16) working days, which is equivalent to one hundred and ninety-two (192) hours; or

   3. from the eighth (8th) to the fourteenth (14th) years of continuous full-time employment, an Employee shall earn entitlement to vacation calculated on a basis of twenty (20) working days, which is equivalent to two hundred and forty (240) hours; or

   4. from the fifteenth (15) and subsequent years of full-time employment, an Employee shall earn entitlement to vacation calculated on a basis of twenty-four (24) working days, which is equivalent to two hundred and eighty-eight (288) hours. 

   5. An Employee shall have the right to utilize vacation credits during the vacation year in which they are earned, provided the following conditions are met: 

      1. the Employee has successfully completed their probationary period.

      2. such utilization does not exceed the total credits earned by an Employee at the time of taking vacation; and

      3. such vacation is taken at a mutually agreeable time.

2. ECAA must give Employees their annual vacation in one (1) unbroken period no later than twelve (12) months after an Employee becomes entitled to it.
   
   If an Employee so requests in writing, ECAA may provide the vacation in two (2) or more periods, so long as each vacation period is at least one (1) day long.

3. If ECAA and an Employee are unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory date to start the Employee’s annual vacation, ECAA must give the Employee at least two (2) weeks’ written notice of the date on which the Employee’s annual vacation is to start, and the Employee must take the vacation at that time. Vacation from the previous year that is unscheduled by April 30th in any given year shall be paid out.

4. Seniority shall be considered when there is a dispute regarding preference for            time that vacation is to be taken.

5. Vacation requests must be made in writing, at least thirty (30) days prior to the requested date. Any request for vacation that is submitted shall be dealt with on a first come first serve basis. Vacation requests with less than thirty (30) days’ notice, may be approved based on operational requirements.

6. Unless given two (2) weeks’ notice of an alteration to scheduled vacation, an Employee required by the Employer to work during their vacation period will receive two (2x) times their Basic Rate of Pay for all hours worked. This premium payment will cease and the Employee’s Basic Rate of Pay will apply at the start of their next regularly scheduled shift. The time so worked will be rescheduled as vacation leave with pay to be added to the vacation period, when possible, or the Employee will be granted equivalent time off in lieu thereof at a mutually agreed later date. With the approval of Employer, an Employee may elect to receive payment at the Basic Rate of Pay in lieu of the aforementioned time off. 

7. When an Employee’s vacation is cancelled by the Employer, the Employer shall be responsible for all non-refundable costs related the cancellation of the vacation.