plant shut downs

Mimi

Need some advice from someone who's been there - one of our off-site food service locations is shutting down for definitely one, possibly two weeks for repairs next month. The food line attendants do not want to use remaining vacation for those days - are we allowed to insist they do in lieu of filing partial unemployment? we do not have a policy in place that states that - will we have to just bite the bullet on unemployment and put a policy in place before this happens again? I guess what I'm asking is - can we legally require they to use any remaining paid time out for those days?

Down_the_Middle

I've certainly "been there", but not for a short 2-week situation. Given the info you provided, the WARN act shouldn't apply and apparently you don't have a current policy in place that requires the use of accrued paid time off b/4 going on unpaid leave. If this 2-week shutdown is expected to return everyone to their former positions, I'd be inclined to specify that accrued paid time off will be avail to ensure that employee benefits are continued during this short duration. Those employees who choose to file unemployment vs taking paid time off, or who may not have sufficient time accrued, would normally be allowed.

I believe you can require paid time off to be used, but you'll have to assess the employee relations issues of "forcing someone to take time off with pay". Packaging this properly, you should be able to have employees feeling good about taking their paid time off....uninterrupted income, etc.... vs having to supplement their income with u/comp. You'll need to think about the amount of advance notice to give employees, how will benefits be continued during that period, who and how is recall going to be handled, etc........

Tricia

I have had quite a few shut downs this year and have had to file unemployment several times. I don't what state you are in, but here in North Carolina, ee's have a one week waiting period before they can draw. That means, that you can file for them the first week, but they will not receive any money for that week. If it goes into 2 weeks, then you would be able to file and they would receive money. You may want to check with your local ESC. Many employees don't realize all of the specifications needed to file.