Accrued PTO and Sick
janetc
24 Posts
Having read the posts under "excessive absentism", I still want to post another question. While it does not deal exclusively with "excessive absentism", it does deal with requests to take time off without pay.
We have tightened down on the time off employees can take and would like to keep them to their accrued PTO and Sick. However, since this has not been done before (my lucky tasks as the new HR person), what is a good way to set this policy forward? Some employees see nothing wrong with requesting more time off than they've accrued, and just no being paid for it.
I see it as a problem.
Advise anyone : )
We have tightened down on the time off employees can take and would like to keep them to their accrued PTO and Sick. However, since this has not been done before (my lucky tasks as the new HR person), what is a good way to set this policy forward? Some employees see nothing wrong with requesting more time off than they've accrued, and just no being paid for it.
I see it as a problem.
Advise anyone : )
Comments
And you certainly in most states require an emplyee to use all appropriate accrued time before
gong on upaid status.
There will always be situations where an employee seeks time off for a leave for example because of an urgent or emergent, compelling need that seems reasonable after all time is used. Whether you allow the time off of course is the employer's decision if the leave is NOT required by law, contract or policy.
If you permit that, you should require verification and some guidelnes on what would be compelling and allowed so that the employee, supervisor, manager and HR staff know and/or the leave decisison maker) are essentially all on the "same page."
Even under ADA you would not be required to grant an indefinite leave or repeated absences that disrupt your business operations (of course how much time goes by when you say enough is enough is what all that "debate" on excessive absences was about).
However, because PTO and Sick have not been consistently administered by the managers, I will need to step in and set up policy. Right now, we have employees who see nothing wrong with getting all their PTO and Sick, then asking for more without pay. It will be a tricky situation to handle even though we addressed this issue with all employees when I revised and presented the employee manual at the beginning of the year. I get the feeling they don't think we will follow through.
Thank you for your comments.
For people that seem to be abusing their leave (and it is always a judgement call)by taking the same days off each week, or being in the habit of calling in "sick" on fridays, or just dangerously close to have no PTO, the manager writes up the restriction, clearly stating that this is not punishment but an attempt to assist the employee in better managing his/her time. The ee cannot take any PTO until a certain balance is reached, usually we hold them for 3 months. If they become sick and need the day off, they must return with a doctor's note. If they have a medical appt. that cannot be scheduled at another time, again, they must have a note from the doctor.
No vacation or personal time (FMLA excluded, of course) would be approved, either.
EE's hate it at first...but when they can finally take 5 days off in a row, they get the point.
We have even had employees who requested LWOP in lieu of taking their PTO time! Another request is they don't think it's "fair" to have to use PTO for "maternity leave". (Yeah, you are going to take off 12 weeks and then put in for vacation when you return? I don't think so!!!!)
If employees go into the "negative", this is considered an attendance issue.