In our last issue of our series “Know your CWA” we take a closer look at “Vacation”.
Below you find the articles as published in the current CWA. Further below we provide some comments and explanations for these articles.
In general, these rules are applicable for all pilots. Only the number of vacation days a pilot is entitled to is different for pilots, who were employed at or after 01 December 2015 and mentioned in CWA B3-35.4.
Like always it is the obligation of the company to follow these rules and a pilot is entitled to a roster reflecting these rules. However, as a pilot you should know what these rules are. If a pilot notices a none compliance with the CWA it is his right that his roster will be changed to be fully compliant with the CWA.
Vacation is governed by articles B1-37.2, B2-36.3 and B3-35.4.
B1-37.2. Vacation
B1-37.2.1 General Rules
Vacation time begins and ends at the Pilot’s Home Base. The Pilot will be scheduled to be Off Duty for at least 12 hours before the start of vacation time.
In case of ground Duty (any Duty excluding positioning or operating an aircraft) at Home Base, the Pilot will be scheduled to be Off Duty 6 hours before his vacation period.
Vacation during the initial training period is addressed in the individual employment contract.
During the calendar month in which the Pilot is on vacation, his Crew Duty will be regulated as follows for the purpose of calculating overtime:
Each day of vacation time is credited as 8 hour towards the 160 hours limit per 28 day Roster Period. For the calculation of paid vacation hours, 8 hours per day and 56 hours per week will however be taken into account.
B1-37.2.2. Sickness during vacation
If a Pilot falls ill during his vacation, the days during which he is ill will not be counted as vacation if he notifies Crew Control by means of a doctors’ certificate.
8 hours per day are counted towards credit hours, but not more than 40 hours per week for sickness of more than 5 consecutive days. This rule applies for sickness during the year.
B2-36.3 Vacation
The annual vacation will be 42 calendar days per year after the first year of service. Vacation for an incomplete year of service equals to number of months employed by the Company times 3.5 days.
* Note: For pilots employed after 01 December 2015 the following article is applicable:
B3-35.4 Vacation
The annual vacation will be 35 calendar days at the date of employment. Vacation in the first year will be pro rata of 35 days. The annual vacation entitlement increases as per below table until the maximum of 42 days per calendar year is reached. No additional vacation entitlement is due during the starting year.
The CWA contains only the general rules outlining vacation entitlements for pilots. The rules how vacation days are allocated are not stipulated in the CWA but outlined in the “Vacation-Bidding-System” document, which is distributed every year at the beginning of the vacation bidding period.
Below you will find some comments and explanations.
- A vacation day (VAC) is defined as a day, which begins and ends at midnight local time. All vacation days will be given at the pilot’s Home Base, which per CWA Part III is “For all Employees at the Company and for the Company itself: Luxembourg Airport.”
- A pilot is entitled to 42 vacation days per calendar year. If a pilot is not employed for the full 12 months of a calendar year, the vacation entitlement will be reduced. In this case the pilot is entitled to 3,5 vacation days per calendar month he is employed by the company.
*Note: For pilots employed at or after 01 December 2015, a spool up of vacation days – from 35 (pro rata) in year 1 to 42 in year 8 – is applicable.
- Before any vacation period, which could be also a single vacation day, the pilot will be free of all duties for a minimum of 12 hours. Only if, the day before the first vacation day consists of a ground duty, such as simulator or ground school, the time free of all duties before the first vacation day is reduced to minimum 6 hours.
Example A:
A pilot is scheduled to arrive back at Home Base the day before his first Vacation Day. The flight is scheduled to arrive at 08.15h UTC (10.15h local time). As the pilot operates this flight his duty ends 30 minutes after arriving back at Home Base, at 10.45h local time. This is in line with Art. 37.2.1 as the pilot “… will be scheduled to be Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period.”
Example B:
Pilot A and Pilot B have both vacation days scheduled immediately the day after they arrive back at Home Base. Pilot A is operating the flight back from IAH, while Pilot B is only positioning from IAH back to LUX.
Due to a network change the flight is now planned to arrive (Block On) at 09.40h UTC (11.40h local time).
In this case the Duty of Pilot A ends 30 minutes after Block On at 12.10h local time, while the Duty of Pilot B ends with Block On at 11.40h local time. As Pilot A is not “…Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period.” , his roster shall be changed. Pilot B still is “…Off Duty for at least 12 hours before his vacation period”, as his Duty ends as defined in B1-36.2. at Block On, which is in this example at 11.40h local time.
Example C:
A pilot is scheduled for ground school the day before his first vacation day. This duty should end at 15.00h UTC (17.00h local time), which gives the pilot more than the required “… 6 hours before the vacation period.”
- For each vacation day 8 hours are credited and are taken into consideration when calculating roster period overtime, as per Art. B1-39.5.1.
- If a pilot falls sick during a vacation period he is by law entitled to compensation for vacation days he was on sick leave. To receive vacation days back a pilot who is sick during vacation must provide the company with a sick leave certificate.
Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.
All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.
