Steve Burns
WMAL.com

UPDATE 4:07 pm : Metro says it received over 500 absence requests for Friday. It has denied all of them.

Here is a statement from Metro:

“Metro received nearly 500 advance absence requests for Friday from bus and rail employees, a rate that is many times higher than normal. We have denied all of the requests. We expect to offer full bus and rail service for our customers as scheduled on Friday.”

Here is the statement from ATU Local 689, Metro’s largest workers union:

“Will WMATA accept the responsibility of refusing a person who is legitimately sick from getting a doctor’s care Friday? Further, will you force them to operate vehicles that transport hundreds or possibly thousands of riders while ill?”

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Rumors of a possible “sick out” among Metro workers on Friday are still just that, rumors. A spokesman for Metro’s largest workers’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union local 689, said management at the union is not organizing any specific action on Friday, but still laid out reasons why workers would be upset at Metro’s current sick-day policy.

“This is a rumor that has come from WMATA management,” ATU Local 689 spokesman David Stephen told WMAL. “Anyone that has expressed that they may be sick on Friday are doing so because they are following WMATA’s absenteeism policy.”

The policy for excused absences requires at least three days’ notice, per the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, the policy for unexcused absences, in which sick days are likely included, is less clear. One section indicates a worker may still get paid for a sick day as long as notice is given at least four hours after the employee was to report to work.

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld recently introduced a policy that required excessive sick days to be approved by Metro’s Office of Medical Services, rather than the worker’s supervisor.

Asked for a statement regarding the absenteeism policy and charges that WMATA management started the rumor, a Metro spokesperson would only confirm “management is staffing based on an unusually high number of absence requests to ensure the delivery of service to customers.”

Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly, asked about the potential sick out, said union members should think twice.

“I would urge the union leadership to take a close hard look at operations, and be part of the solution,” Connolly told WMAL. “I’m not sure the commuting public is going to welcome that, nor will that create the sympathy maybe intended.”

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