HOLIDAY Pay

slewis

I am evaluating my companies holiday pay policy. Which states, "Employees are required to work their scheduled shift on the last workday before and the first workday following the holiday in order to receive holiday ay; unless their absence was scheduled and approved in advance. You are not eligible to receive holiday pay when you are on an unpaid leave of absence." My issue is that most companies that I have been employed if you work the day before and you have vacation scheduled for the day after then the next scheduled workday you must work or you are not paid for the holiday. Now if someone request the time off after the holiday and does not have vacation or any other time should they be paid for the holiday? IF anyone would give me a little insight as to what you use for a rule on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-07-02 AT 01:01PM (CST)[/font][p]Your policy is that in order to receive holiday pay, the employee must be on a pay status on BOTH sides (work days) of the holiday. From what you describe, if the employee isn't on a pay status the work day after the holiday because he or she doesn't have accrued time on the books to cover the absence, then the employee wouldn't get holiday pay. If you mean after the holiday, the employee is requesting time off as unpaid leave, such as requesting it the morning after the holiday, then I don't see where there would be a change. Your policy is clear there. The holiday is unpaid.

Each employer, as you noted, may do it differently. For example, we only require that the employee be on a "full pay status" on at least one side fo the holiday in order to get holiday pay.

slewis

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-07-02 AT 01:02PM (CST)[/font][p]Thank you for your response. What would your company do if the employee was absent no pay the day before, took a vacation day the day after the holiday but then was absent no pay the day after the vacation day?

C_J

Our policy considers the last or next scheduled day is the next scheduled WORK day. If you are scheduled to take a vacation day before or after, the vacation day is not your next scheduled working day, the day after or before the vacation is the next scheduled work day. This avoids the problem of someone taking a vacation day before or after a holiday and then extending the time off work with another day unscheduled.

slewis

This is exactly what I am trying to get my staff to realize that we need to do, when I read this policy that was my interpretation of it but since then I have had circumstances that and employee has called out after their scheduled vacation and still being paid for the holiday and I did not think it was right. Thank you so much for your response.

Gillian

As you are evaluating you might want to consider the reasons for the policy, now and why you might change. The work the day before and after policies are traditional but fit the industrial setting where it is a production problem if people extend their holidays without notice - the policy certainly forces employees to think twice before missing work. Some organizations which are less production oriented are more flexible. Our policy is also that an employee be on some sort of paid status before and after the holiday - for us, employees are entitled to vacation anyway, so as long as the supervisor can accomodate the absence, we don't care. We also decided that it is a bummer to penalize people who are on sick leave, but we don't have to worry about a production line and people taking advantage. Just some thoughts.