Noting sick days taken on Evaluations

Ms_Shepard

My boss just asked me to prepare performance evaluation forms for our upcoming annual review process. She asked that I add the field "# sick days taken this fiscal year" on the performance evaluation form. I did not ask, but I can only assume that this is somehow going to be factored into the overall evaluation, and possibly affect the amount of increase an employee would get. I feel uneasy about this since some people have very valid reasons for using their sick days, i.e. serious medical conditions, and think this could possibly interfere with FMLA somehow. I have always been for a strict sick leave policy, since we do have many that abuse it terribly, and senior mgt. have finally agreed on revising our current policy and reducing the number of sick days allowed (currently 12 per year). I feel this may be taking it too far though.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

ray a

The only sick time I allow used against an ee on their evaluation is unpaid time off - time over and above the 3 paid sick days and earned vacation they receive, excluding FMLA time.

So, maybe a good compromise would be to list on the evaluation only the time off in excess of the paid 12 days and not counting FMLA time. You are right to be concerned about holding approved FMLA time against the ee. Also, if you were to fire someone for "poor attendance", yet all their missed time off was covered by paid sick time, what would the judge say if the person took you to court?

scottorr

I agree with Ray. If you allow the sick time you can not use it against the ee. Anything above and beyond allowed days, you will be allowed to use. We never identify individuals, however, in our annaul report we indicate total utilization of sick time. You can not give ees a benefit and then punish them for using it.

Also keep in mind, a recent court case said that if an ee has been abscent and it is out of character that it is the emploers responsibilty to inform that ee of their FMLA rights.

Hatchetman

Exactly what is your boss trying to accomplish buy referincing the number of sick days?

If it rate absences/attendance as a factor to be rated, then he should also deal with any absence for any reason, after backing out FMLA, ADA, vacation, other absences whicc may be "legally protected."

Basically, if your company allocates a number of days per year for sick and/or vacation or PTO (for any reason), then he sould alos only be looking at the numbers that exceed the allocation which also aren't "legally protected."

And it's not just the number of days that has to be considered. To make a strong case that the employee has excessivbe absences, the impact of those absences have on the job should be identified through examples (what has happened to the emplyee's work, to the office, to production, etc, when the employee wasn't at work).

Also, remember, nothing in the evaluation should be a surprise to the employee. Thus during the rating period, the supervisor needed to have brought to the emplyee's attention a concern about too many absences and documented that and what has occurred after.

Finally, one additonal aspect to consider is the difference between authorized and unauthorized absences (unauthorized meing without pay and subject to immediate discipline as the employee did not follow procedures to report an absence or verify the need for th eabsence, if it was required). Unauthorized absences are usually the "emergent" kind. There is no prior request.

But you can certainly deal with execssive absences backing out the "protections" and allocation criteria but including the llong term impacct as demonstrate by various examples of what happens when the emplyee is absent.

LindaS

I agree with the responses above in that absences IN EXCESS OF those that are allotted by the company, whether they are sick, vacation, PTO, or personal should not be used "against" an employee when figuring their attendance. These are days the company gives the employee as a benefit to allow them to balance their work and personal lives and to penalize them for utilizing this benefit is wrong, not to mention illegal if the reason(s) for the absence(s) fall under any of the federal and/or state (if applicable) regulations. If the supervisor wants to use days missed in excess of the allotted time, or "occurrences/points" taken in accordance with an attendancy policy, this is different and should be brought to the employee's attention, especially if they aren't getting the job done.

LeeR

The purpose of providing sick days is to alow the employee to use them. To take any kind of punitive action for use of a company benefit seems counter-productive. I do agree with taking action if the employee abuses the benefit.

John Barr VA

At the same time, sick days are not vacation days that employees are free to use whenever they decide that they just don't want to come in. In fact, they can be more disruptive since, usually, vacations have to be planned in advance and sick days do not.

Still I agree that tracking only sick days does not look good (but it is not illegal). Perhaps a better alternative is to track total non-vacation absences.