Speaking of Holiday Pay....

AZHR

Our policy review continues...How many of you require employees to work scheduled hours the day before and after a holiday to be eligible for holiday pay?

marc

We are looking at this one also. If we implement, it would pay a holiday if any sort of hours were utilized, whether regular pay, vacation pay, or sick pay. We also have a couple of floating holidays that could be used before and after to trigger the holiday pay.

Have not decided yet about FMLA leave. Seems like a lot of opinions going either way on whether or not holiday pay must happen when a company has a policy requiring hours before and after.

Hatchetman

We require an employee to be on a "full" pay status (could be paid leave) either on the day before oor on the day after the paid holiday.

mcmel

We require our employees to work the full scheduled day before AND after the holiday to receive holiday pay.

Employees have been tardy and we've been leniant, but if they call in sick, no holiday pay. If they have vacation scheduled (ahead of time), they will be paid for the holiday.

HRQ

Ours is pretty much the same as mcmel's. One adjustment we need to make: we didn't specify "full scheduled day", so it was arguable whether or not an ee should be paid if they walk out in the middle of the shift following the holiday. This happened today! I told the supervisor to go ahead and pay, since she showed up for the shift.

ray a

Must have 8 hours of pay the day before and the day after. The 8 hours can be worked, vacation, personal, or floating holiday.

Dutch2

We require our employees to work their full "scheduled day" the day before and the day after the holiday in order to receive holiday pay. The key is "scheduled" if they are not scheduled to work those days, such as on vacation, we pay them holiday pay. If they should call in sick or for some other reason, not come in to work without prior approval and being scheduled as such with their supervisor, we do not pay holiday pay. Likewise if they should come in late or leave early on the day before and/or after the holiday. This has really cut down on the illness and leaving early and such that previously accured just before and after a paid holiday, especially those that made for an extra long weekend. We do allow our employees to use vacation and sick pay to make up for the holiday pay they missed, if they have vacation pay that has not been used and if they qualified for sick pay.
Dutch2

mushroomHR

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-29-03 AT 07:25AM (CST)[/font][br][br]We do the same--must work the day before and the day after unless it is prearranged--unless it is a "special person" who calls off, then they get paid. Some do get paid/some don't get paid, just depends on who you are. Not a very fair policy but that's the way our company is. Some day we are going to get in trouble for this but management doesn't want to listen.

mcmel

Oh mushroom, it sounds like I could have written that post in the past. This company has been extremely unequal in how it treats its employees and the owners call me "the one manager with a backbone" because I've pushed and pushed to keep it consistent. It's easier for most to play favorites.

We know there are specific employees who have the handbook memorized while most don't read it, but it's those nit-pickers that are waiting for us to screw up . . . just be careful. If you know it's happening, keep pushing for more consistency and watch yourself.

Beave

Must have 8 hours of pay the day before AND the day after. The 8 hours can be worked, vacation, or personal.

Dutch2

Ditto, we too were once this way. Basically all anyone had to do was go visit their Sr. Management Team Supervisor and he/she would give some of them, but not all, anything they wanted. We finally got this stopped by stating that only the President of the company has the authority to effect any changes to policies written in our Employee Handbook. It took him a time or two visiting with the ole HR guy to finally realize that consistency is the key to being able to defend most all personnel issues.
Supervisors have got to understand that the regulations apply to all employees, not just the "the ones they don't like".
Dutch2

martman99

I have a similar issue posted in the "Benefits" forum; however, my 2 employees are on maternity. Policy indicates "full-time" employees are eligible if the office would have been open, but for the Holiday.

Add'l thoughts?

Marty

marc

Is "Maternity" a separate leave category in your shop? Or is it FML? Members of the forum have come down on both sides of paying or not paying holiday pay while on FML. As for a separate maternity leave policy, it should probably address this issue, if not, then your basic holiday pay policy would prevail.

martman99

Maternity has not been addressed as a separate issue. We are not yet subject to FMLA.

marc

Martman,

You don't have a separate maternity policy but you have two EEs out on maternity? Sounds like you have a policy of some sort, just not formalized. Go back to your basic holiday policy, if it is silent on the issue of being paid before and after, then what have you done for others that are out on leave. Consistent treatment of EEs is one of the cornerstones of good HR practice. If others out of medical leave have been paid, then you should continue to do so for the EEs on maternity. If this is your first instance where this question has arisen, then you get to think through how you would like to handle this and set up a template for the future. I personally like the idea of being paid the day before and the day after before you also get holiday pay. That would include being paid for sick leave, annual leave and/or personal leave.

Just my opinion.

martman99

Thanks Marc

This is our first "blush" at this situation. As our company has grown from 12 employees to almost 50 in such a short period, the employee manual is in need of substantial revisions, including this scenario.

Thanks for your input. However, since our ee's schedules may not border the Holiday in question, don't know if that scenario will work here. Sometimes an ee's schedule does not include the day B/4 a Holiday or a day after. Thoughts?

Thanks again

Marty

Parabeagle

The key is in the phrasing. Our policy says the employee must work the "last SCHEDULED workday before and after the holiday." So if Christmas falls on a Monday and an employee is scheduled off the preceding Sat/Sun, but worked Friday and the following Tuesday, they would still get paid for the Christmas holiday.

Parabeagle

Our policy is really simple: You must be serving in a "paid status" on the day prior to and the day after the holiday in order to receive holiday pay. If you're not in a paid status, you don't get the holiday.

mwild31

We don't. Here's ours:

"To qualify for Holiday Pay, employees must have a minimum of 90 calendar days with the Company on a full time basis. If a holiday falls during a pay period in which the employee has not worked and that time is unpaid, the employee will not receive Holiday Pay for that pay period."

****Disclaimer: We are a small manufacturing company with approximately 110 ee's & are non-union. Also, paid holidays in our industry is still considered a great benefit (smaller shops don't offer) which is why our policy is more beneficial to the ee than the company - it's a recruiting tool as well as a benefit.

martman99

Thanks!

WO

This public employer requires:

"...employee must be on pay status on the scheduled work day immediately preceding and immediately following the holiday."

We follow the above in FMLA and any leave cases.

rhr27

We require our employees to work at least half of their scheduled shift the day before and the day after the holiday. If they are scheduled for vacation around the holiday, they must work their scheduled days before and after their vacation time. We do not offer holiday pay for people on Leave, and will only pay for those employees who miss work for FMLA if they have pre-scheduled their absence.

The "half of their shift" requirement usually gets employees here for at least part of the day and allows those who would rather throw up on my payroll clerk's desk than miss out on holiday pay to go home.