union contracts

[kingfish]

I work in county government, the county is disbanding my department in a few months.

My question is: We have a 4 year contract with the county which will not expire until April 2009, which will be about 1 year after they shut down my department. Does the county have to honor that last year of contract and pay us for that year???

Thanks for any help

 

[cbg]

You'll have to show the contract to an attorney in your state to get the answer to that question. The law does not say so; under the law you are only due pay for the time you work. So it will depend on what the contract says about such issues.

 

[Green_Hornet]

There should be a severance schedule in the contract. That part is enforceable.

 

[irish223]

As a teacher, I too have a contract. In my contract, there is a section that addresses layoffs. Our layoffs are based on seniority and qualification. For example, if we lose an elementary classroom due to decreased enrollment, the elementary teacher may bump another teacher with lower seniority; however, if the only other teacher with lower seniority is the music teacher, then the elementary teacher must have the required endorsement to bump the music teacher. If not, then the elementary teacher will be laid off.

Your contract may or may not be similar, but it probably has a section that deals with layoffs.

 

[Green_Hornet]

This is a shop closure it's usually different on shop closure you usually have no where to place a bump. Since the contract deals with the shop that is being closed. However if this is a county wide seniority system then Irish is correct.