[Jeff Niceswanger]

ARTICLE VIII
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

Section 1. The Company reserves and retains, solely and exclusively, all of its normal, inherent and common law rights to manage the business, whether exercised or not.

Section 2. The sole and exclusive rights of management shall include but are not limited to hiring of new employees from any source it may desire; to direct the work force and assign work to employees in accordance with the requirements determined by management and the provisions of this Agreement; to evaluate the work performance of employees; to promote, lay off, demote, transfer, discipline, suspend or discharge employees for just cause in accordance with Article IX; to lay off employees because of lack of work and eliminate jobs; to determine and redetermine the work to be performed and the methods, processes and quality of such work; to discontinue processes or operations of the Company; to determine and to select the equipment to be used in the Company’s operations and, from time to time, to change or discontinue the use of any equipment and to select new equipment for its operations, including equipment for new operations; to determine the size and type of the working force; to determine the number of hours per day or week that operations shall be carried on; except as provided in this Agreement or as otherwise agreed by the Company and the Union in letter(s) of understanding, to establish shifts and schedules and from time to time change the shifts and schedules; and to establish or continue policies, practices and procedures for the conduct of the business and, from time to time, to change such policies, practices or procedures, except as provided in this Agreement.

Section 3. The Company shall have the exclusive right to require an employee to undergo a physical examination by a physician of its choosing in accordance with federal and state law to determine an employee’s fitness for duty. The Company shall pay the costs of any physical examination under this Section.

ARTICLE IX
DISCIPLINE AND DISCHARGE

Section 1. The Company shall have the right to discipline employees for just cause. The progressive disciplinary steps are: verbal counseling, written counseling, final written counseling and termination. The steps of progressive discipline shall be followed in all cases of minor infractions of work rules or company policies. In cases of major infractions of work rules, steps of the progressive discipline process may be bypassed; in cases of food safety violations, the verbal step of the progressive discipline process may be bypassed. Violations of the Attendance Policy shall be separate from violations of work rules for all purposes of discipline.

Section 2. When an employee is to be disciplined, the nature of the offense will be put in writing and given to the employee within seven (7) calendar days of the Company’s knowledge of the offense. If the employee is not working on the seventh calendar day, the notice will be given to the employee on the first day the employee returns to work. Any suspension will commence within seven (7) calendar days of the notice unless the Company and the Union agree otherwise. Employees facing disciplinary action shall have the right to request union representation at the time the employee receives the discipline. An employee shall also have the right to challenge the disciplinary action through the grievance procedure. The timeframes set forth in this section may be extended by mutual agreement; consent to such extension shall not be unreasonably withheld.

Section 3. Discipline will not be counted for progressive discipline purposes after one (1) year from the date of issue, provided the employee has not received any disciplinary action for at least one year.

Major offenses
The following is a list of major offenses (to be included in the work rules and not the collective
bargaining agreement):
1. Assault
2. Possession of firearms or other weapons on Company property
3. Use or possession of drugs or alcohol on Company property
4. Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while on Company property
5. Theft
6. Intentional destruction of Company property
7. Willful contamination of product; willful failure to report contamination of product
8. Falsification of time records or employment application; willful falsification of other
Company records
9. Gross insubordination
10. Fighting
11. Sleeping on the job
12. Willful violation of safety procedures
13. Job abandonment
14. Repeated sexually or racially harassing or discriminatory