Scottsbluff NDVA Member Prevails in Temporary Reassignment Grievance

NAPE member Crystal Edmunds is an Administrative Technician at the Western Nebraska Veterans Home in Scottsbluff. Crystal also happens to be a licensed Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). Because of her licensing, Crystal is able to work out-of-class as a Staff Care Technician II when help is needed. That said, our labor contract has very specific provisions on when employees can be required to work out-of-class. When Crystal found herself being temporarily reassigned multiple times per week, she reached out to NAPE to help her enforce her contractual rights.

Since the Western Nebraska Veterans Home is a 24-hour care facility within the Department of Veteran Affairs, there is language in Appendix W of our contract that offers protections to the employees at these facilities. Our contract states that before anyone can be temporarily reassigned, management must ask for volunteers. If there are no volunteers, the least senior qualified employee is temporarily reassigned. Also, temporary reassignments must be re-evaluated on a day-to-day basis.

Crystal reached out to NAPE because she was continually receiving temporary reassignment to work as a Staff Care Technician II. After investigating the situation, Crystal and the NAPE field team realized that she was not the least senior qualified employee for these temporary reassignments, because there were other less senior CNA’s on staff. As such, she should not have been continuously receiving the temporary reassignments. NAPE promptly filed a grievance on Crystal’s behalf. During the grievance process, the agency agreed that these temporary reassignments were in violation of our contract, and agreed to stop temporarily reassigning employees unless they are the least senior qualified employee. Since filing the grievance, Crystal has not been temporarily reassigned in violation of our contract.

NAPE is dedicated to ensuring that work assignments are assigned in compliance with our contract. If you believe that you’ve been incorrectly assigned, we encourage you to contact us right away so that we can assist.