“We expect to offer full bus and rail service for our customers as scheduled on Friday,” Metro said in a statement.

ATU Local 689 President Jackie L. Jeter accused the agency of putting workers and passengers at risk by rejecting the surge of requests.

“Will WMATA accept the responsibility of refusing a person who is legitimately sick from getting a doctor’s care Friday?” Jeter wrote in an email to Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld, cc-ing members of the media on the message. “Further, will you force them to operate vehicles that transport hundreds or possibly thousands of riders while ill?”

AD

AD

On Wednesday afternoon, union representatives said they had not organized or coordinated a protest action. But when asked whether union members could have independently decided to stage their own informal “sick-out,” Jeter said “there’s always that potential.”

“There is a possibility that members have taken it upon themselves to start following the directives that WMATA has given,” Jeter said. “Local 689 supports the actions of the members 100 percent. … We support what they’re doing.”

In a memo sent by management Tuesday, and provided to The Washington Post by a Metro employee, a manager for rail station and train operations instructed depot clerks to deny all requests for a sick day on Friday, even if they provided the requisite 72 hours advance notice to the agency. (Workers can request and obtain “pre-approved sick leave” for absences required for medical appointments.)

AD

AD

“Employees cannot call out today and go sick on Friday. Any employee that calls today and inform[s] the clerk that they are going to be sick on Friday, must be told that they must report to work on Friday,” the memo said.

The memo from management also instructed staff to keep a list of all employees who request to take a sick day Friday.

“Keep a list of all your employees that call out for Friday. Use the below chart to keep us updated,” the email said.

Employees who fail to report to work on Friday will receive negative marks on their disciplinary record.

“If they fail to report to work they will be assessed 8 points for each day the employee does not report,” the memo said.

AD

ATU Local 689 spokesman David Stephen said Metro workers have the right to take a sick day as long as they give three days’ notice, according to Metro’s new policy.

AD

“WMATA’s policy requires that employees give a 72-hour advance notice in anticipation of being sick,” Stephen said. “If any Local 689 member has expressed to their superior that they may be sick on Friday they are adhering to WMATA’s own policy.”

Metro management issued new policies and regulations in February to crack down on absenteeism and curb overtime hours — a move that also involved an investigation into more than 100 workers who Metro officials believed were abusing the extended medical leave policy. The policy also added extra steps to vet workers’ medical absences, requiring that Metro’s internal Office of Medical Services — not workers’ direct supervisors — review and approve sick leave requests and doctors’ notes.

But the union has honed in on one particular part of the new policy: “pre-approved sick leave.” Requests to miss work for doctor’s appointments or medical evaluations must be made “no less than three scheduled workdays prior to the requested leave date,” the policy says.

AD

AD

Under the current collective bargaining agreement with ATU Local 689, workers are entitled to 16 hours of medical leave per year specifically for medical appointments, though it does not specify how much advance notice must be provided for those appointments. Metro officials say workers are still allowed to call in sick on the day of their shift if they are experiencing sudden illness.

But ATU Local 689 officials say the policy has been implemented capriciously, with some workers receiving unexcused absences for failing to provide three days notice.

“Each department is doing something different,” said Anthony Garland, international representative for ATU Local 689. “Even with the policy itself structured the way that it is, they have a problem with implementing it because all departments are not actually up to speed with what’s supposed to be done.”

AD

AD

Said Jeter, “the policy is asinine.”

The standoff over the sick leave policy is the latest skirmish between Metro officials and the union while the two are in the midst of contentious contract negotiations. Earlier this month, Metro sent an email to the union, warning them that they are not allowed to hold union meetings on Metro property.

And on Wednesday, Jeter said she doesn’t see any rapprochement in sight — even as both the union and Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld seek to persuade local jurisdictions to provide a long-term dedicated funding source for the transit agency.