VACATION

Employees must have a minimum of 240 "inflated" days to qualify for next year's vacation. Trip miles, excluding non-taxable amounts, lump sums, and frozen miles, count toward vacation calculation. A running total of current year inflated days can be viewed using the WFHub under the Earned/Taken Info screen. This number is updated after each payroll closes. Any time spent in furlough, leave of absence or any other extended time off will not count towards vacation accrual and will need to be made up.

How inflated days are calculated:

Each trip worked and job has a mileage amount, inflated days are based on these miles. Road service and yard service have different inflation amounts.

• Yard

If working in yard service: 150 (starts) qualifying days @ 1.6 inflated factor = 240 inflated days. Example; a yard start is a 100-mile Basic Day; the yard inflation factor is 1.6. So, for every yard start 1.6 inflated days towards vacation is earned. [100 miles x 1.6 (yard inflated factor) = 1.6 inflated days]

• Road

If working in road service - 180 (starts) qualifying days @ 1.335 inflated factor = 240.3 inflated days. In road service the Basic Day is 130 (there are some locals and road switchers that are 100). To calculate the number of inflated days earned, use the following formula: divide the miles run by 130, then multiply the number times the road inflation factor of 1.335. Example; a thru freight pool turn runs 220 miles one way. 220 miles * 2 (round trip) = 440 divided by 130 (Basic Day) = 3.38 * 1.335 (road inflated factor) = 4.5 inflated days for the round trip.

Needles Pool Inflated Day Rate

• Needles – Bakersfield --- 3.3 Inflated Days per Ticket

• Needles – Barstow --- 1.9 Inflated Days per Ticket

• Needles – Los Angeles --- 3.3 Inflated Days per Ticket

• Needles – San Bernardino --- 2.5 Inflated Days per Ticket

• Needles – Winslow --- 3.1 Inflated Days per Ticket

Other Factors 

All observed Annual and Personal days count as qualifying days. These days are not inflated and count as one day. Paid Vacation days do not count as qualifying days for vacation during the next year. An employee can receive credit for up to ninety (90) calendar days he/she is assigned to an extra board and did not work. These days are not inflated.

Vacation Earned Intervals

Years of Service --- Weeks of Vacation Earned

1 Years --- 1 Week

2 Years --- 2 Weeks

6 Years --- 3 Weeks

15 Years --- 4 Weeks

23 Years --- 5 Weeks

25 Years --- 6 Weeks

Vacation Roster Info

Engineers are assigned to the engineer vacation roster, from Senior to Junior, based on the number of engineer jobs on Oct 1st. Any engineer that is not assigned to the engineer vacation roster will be assigned to the trainman vacation roster of the location they are working at 0001 on Oct 1st.

Vacation Start Times

Needles engineer vacations start at 0700 and Barstow engineer vacations start at 0730. Employees working as an engineer when starting a scheduled vacation or a single vacation float day will be laid off “PRE” the night before the vacation starts. Needles engineers will start "PRE" at 2201 and Barstow engineers will start "PRE" at 2231 the night before the vacation is scheduled to start.

PLD/ALD

To qualify for Personal Leave Days an engineer must work at least 150 days in the preceding calendar year. These days are counted in the same way as vacation qualifier days. Payment is at the  rate of last service performed.

Engineers qualify for personal leave days on the following basis:

Years of Service --- Days Earned

< 5 Years --- 3 Days

5 – 10 Years --- 5 Days

10 – 15 Years --- 7 Days

15 – 20 Years --- 9 Days

20+ Years --- 11 Days

While working in demoted status, engineers are covered by UTU agreements with regard to PLDs as follows: 

Years of Service --- Road --- Road/Yard

<5 Years --- 2 Days --- 11 Days

5 – 10 Years --- 4 Days --- 11 Days

10 – 15 Years --- 7 Days --- 12 Days

15 – 20 Years --- 10 Days --- 13 Days

20+ Years --- 13 Days --- 14 Days

Carryover days are computed on December 31 and are allocated depending on the craft you are working in at that time. (If working in demoted status you will carry over unused UTU PLDs and no ALD)

LXD

Engineers and conductors are entitled to one extra paid day per year. This extra paid day can be taken as either a VAC day, PLD or on the employee's birthday. Employees can change this selection on the WFHUB by following the steps below:

1. Login to the WFHUB

2. Time Off

3. Entitlement Overview

4. Extra Leave

5. Select how you want to use the day

6. Click Submit