Military Leave and then vacation?

Meg

I could use some advice. We have an employee who has been serving in the armed forces for the past five months. He recently returned and notified us (within the 14 days) that he will be returning to work. However, he has requested to have 8 weeks off to spend some time with his family.
I can understand wanting to take time to be with the family and am assuming that is why there is 14 days allowed. This is the first employee I have had leave but will not be the last. I am worried that by granting this leave, it will set a precedent that I will have to follow in the future.
Another consideration could be the employee's emotional and mental well-being. As this employee is at another location from my office (and another state -Connecticut), and I have not met him, I am unaware of his emotional health (this may not even be an issue). I do not want to rush anyone to return to work after having served oversees and have this impact both the company and the employee negatively.
Has anyone experienced this situation and can you offer some advice? We don't want to appear insensitive, but at the same time, want to be consistent and fair to all employees.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

sandra_d

Are you willing to give him any additional time at all? Perhaps you could explain that it has been a hardship for your organization already since he's been gone 5 months, but that you want him to have some time to be with family and catch up on life. What about "counter-offering" at 2 or 3 weeks and see if you can negotiate something that will work for both of you.

(P.S. I wouldn't speculate further about his mental or emotional health...dangerous waters to tread.)

Meg

Sandra, thanks for the idea. I will think about offering 2-3 weeks, but again, worry about what will happen the next time an associate asks for some time off.
Hopefully there will not be too many more employees called to serve, but I also wonder if another employee would argue that although he/she didn't serve, they too want time off to be with his or her family. I gues that we could always fall back on the fact that this employee served over seas for over 5 months...

LindaS

I agree with allowing him some time off and 2-3 weeks seems appropriate. I also agree with NOT addressing, or making presumptions about, his mental state. As far as others wanting off for the same reason, and not serving as this person did, simply explain why you are denying the leave and let them figure out a way to defend it - they probably would find it very difficult.

Crout

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-08-03 AT 03:19PM (CST)[/font][p]I was somewhat amused by the title of your post. Are you assuming that his military service was some sort of a vacation? After reading weekly emails from my best friend currently stationed in Iraq, I can assure you that it was probably not a vacation. However, I agree that you should be mindful about setting a precedent. Is the requested leave paid or unpaid? Have you ever granted several weeks leave to any other employee for personal reasons? How much vacation time does he have? Keep in mind that he is entitled to any benefit that he would have been eligible for under normal circumstances.

Meg

No, I certainty didn't mean to imply that serving in the armed forces would be a vacation. And I can totally understand why a person would need some time with his or her family after having been away for a long period of time.
My apologies if I offended anyone. I simply wanted to find out what other companies may be offering to their employees who are returning home. The standard vacation package ranges from one-two weeks. I just thought that 8 weeks would be a little long for a company to wait.
Thanks everyone!

Crout

Oh, no apologies are necessary, Meg. Quite the opposite. If I sounded touchy it's because of my firsthand knowledge of the conditions over there.