Attendance Policy
Don D
9,834 Posts
We have a pretty elaborate hourly attendance policy which is more than fair to employees. However, it's become a supervisory and clerical nightmare to administer. All the salaried staff in the process are trying to convince me to change back to an old 'no fault' point system which allowed 12 points that could be charged in 1/2 point increments for absences of any and all natures and once the 12 points are burned, the employee is terminated. The reason I created the current policy, which allows me to excuse absences in certain cases where medical slips are provided (and others), is to steer clear of potential FMLA issues or perhaps ADA related issues. The old policy could result in the termination of an employee whose reason for the 12th absence might have been a serious medical condition or even going with a family member to surgery. The 'no fault' system is obviously more 'clerical friendly' to administer and takes no imagination, empathy or brainwork to administer. However, the current policy allows me to review every 'excuse' for every absence or tardy and to render an appropriate and consistent decision that is defensible later. Perhaps we could have the no fault system with the exceptions of medically related absences which are to be handled separately. Are there those of you who might have experienced either or both types of policies or combinations thereof and can you share pitfalls or potential minefields in either?
Comments
This is a bit like progressive discipline. If it is not administered across the board, fairly and consistently, then you may be in for all types of charges.
I still like the idea of a supervisor deeming what is "excessive" for their department and if they have an employee who is obviously has too many tardies or too many absences, then document and take appropriate action.
This, too, is not perfect by any means, but at least it does not "box" you into a corner as to where you have to explain why you discharged this employee for ten absences and then did not discharge another employee for 12 absences.
Don't know if this helps or confuses.
Our salaried exempt employees keep only minimal attendance records. They turn in a monthly time sheet that shows days worked (not hours worked), vacation days, sick days, and holidays.
I was under the impression if you monitor salaried, exempt employees hours too closely that they could lose their exempt status and you could end up owing overtime.
Any thoughts or comments?
[email]paulknoch@hotmail.com[/email]
One key that makes it employee friendly is that 2 or more consecutive absences, if supported by documentation and not one of the SIXTEEN allowed non-chargable absences, only counts as 1 instance. For example-- a person who does not qualify for FMLA and misses 1 week due to surgery would only get 1 point charged to them (instead of 5).
The 16 allowed non-chargable absences cover all the federal protection laws and a couple of employee friendly non-regulated absences (i.e. bereavement).
My e-mail is [email]dldhr40@hotmail.com[/email]
We utilize a progressive disciplinary process. If someone has three absences or tardies (one tardy only counts as 1/2) within a 90 day time period it is considered excessive and they get a first warning. If they get three more within the next 90 day period, they get another warning. If they get two within the next 90 days, they get another warning and a disciplinary suspension. Finally, if they get four more within the next 180 day period we would term. We have been successful in showing that there is no way the employee was not aware that their attendance needed to improve and what the ramifications would be if it did not.
Like someone mentioned above, if someone is out on consecutive days (say, out for three days with the flu), then we will only count that as one incident. The supervisor has the right to ask for a doctor's note at any time, but we always ask for one for three or more consecutive days of absence. In a sense, these incidents are "no fault" in that we don't care if you are out sick, a family member is sick, you have a court appearance, your car broke down on the freeway coming to work, whatever. You are not here, so you are not productive and not helping the company. You get three of those, it's a warning.
Of course you always need to keep an eye out for FMLA. This leave is protected so you cannot count an FMLA as an incident and fire someone. For all other situations, it has worked well for us!
Believe it or not, I have managed what I believe to be extremely good consistency. I have one electrician who must attend a monthly counseling session with a dependent who is in a regional 'behavioral school' setting. It's not FMLA but I cannot see penalizing then terminating this man for being the father he needs to be knowing I would do the same. the points system with blind justice would no doubt terminate him rather soon. I can see a multitude of problems with 'charging' someone for absence due to sickness or transporting a family member, even though the person might not have applied for FMLA and jumped through the requisite number of hoops. The legal advice I've gotten suggests to steer clear of penalties for anything medical related or which might remotely be construed as FMLA related. Plus, once the word gets out that FMLA absences are not charged, but other illness absences are, guess what? Here comes the onslaught of 4-day medical statements. Doctors are awfully cooperative in handing out such excuses willy-nilly. Believe it or not, even with our extremely lenient absentee policy, I just terminated a person who had gone -6.5 points in the hole (due to clerical oversight and late paperwork from supervisors) and yesterday I got the EEOC charge. It's the cleanest termination I've seen but now comes the paperwork. Thanks you for your advice. Don
Good Luck!