Unifor Local 707 Departmental Committeeperson Report – Schedule ALL your remaining Vacation pay

Brothers and Sisters,

With the year coming to an end, just as we did last year – we would like to advise and remind everyone that if you have vacation entitlement that hasn’t been scheduled, do so before PP50.

*Note: Do not reschedule any vacation pay in PP 51 PP 52 and/or PP 53 if you are planning to travel out of the country during these periods.

*If you do not schedule your vacation hours on or before PP 50, you will receive your remaining entitlement in a lump sum payment from the company on that week. 

Service Canada and the company will allocate, your vacation hours in blocks of 40 hours starting in PP 50, and then to subsequent weeks that follow until all vacation hours are expired. 

As a result, you will not receive EI/ SUB or IMP pay for these weeks.

Example

Remaining Vacation entitlement: 240 hours (as member did not schedule any vacation)

PP 50: 240 hours paid in lump sum

Proper allocation of vacation pay entitlement by Service Canada and consequently the Ford Motor Company for Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB) or Income Maintenance Plan (IMP) benefits would be as follows:

PP 50 – 40 hours vacation

PP51- 40 hours vacation

PP 52 – 40 hours vacation

PP 53 – 40 hours vacation

PP1 – 40 hours vacation

PP 2 – 40 hours vacation

Result

PP 51, 52, 53, 1, 2 : $0 paid (no EI/ no SUB or no IMP) due to vacation allocation

Reason why you should schedule all you vacation pay prior to PP 50

• For any members still in receipt of EI – Service Canada will allocate lump sum vacation payments over several weeks, which will lead to possible future overpayments if you do not properly report earnings or a period of weeks where you would be ineligible for EI payments.
• For the vast majority of members that are not in receipt of EI -The company will allocate lump sum vacation payments over several weeks and may not restart SUB payments or IMP payments (if necessary) during the Christmas Holiday period, as staff will be on holidays. In addition, when they return it may take a week or two for all required adjustments to be made.
• In addition, If you get a large lump-sum payment for your vacation pay in pay period 50, it could temporarily push you into a higher tax bracket when it’s paid. This means more income tax might be taken off your pay. You’ll have to wait until you file your 2025 tax return to get back any extra tax that was withheld.

Avoid these issues, schedule ALL your vacation hours:

Visit the OACCARE Site https://azureford.sharepoint.com/sites/oaccare (when the link opens, click the tile titled “Vacation Request Form”

You can also email your Vacation request with your Name and GID to OEVCHELP@ford.com

In Solidarity,