excused absence

Irie

Our attendance policy does not stipulate that an employee must have a doctor's note to return to work after athree-day absence. However, if they do have a doctor's excuse it will reduce their attendance points since we have a point-based attendance policy.

That being said, if an employee (who is not eligible for FMLA) calls off work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, comes back to work on Friday and brings a doctor's excuse stating they were at the doctor's office on Wednesday and can return to work on Friday, would you excuse them for Monday and Tuesday? I am inclined not to since the note from the doctor says nothing about them not being able to work on Monday or Tuesday. Your thoughts?

LindaS

Under our attendance policy EEs are required to bring a doctor's slip allowing them to RTW after an absence of three days or more (FMLA included). That being said, we also have a stipulation in our policy that states if an EE brings a doctor's slip in relating to ALL days missed they are only charged one absence point for the entire time missed.

So, in response to your question, if the EE worked here he/she would get the points for Monday and Tuesday since the doctor's slip does not excuse them for those days off. IF you desire, you can instruct the EE to get a doctor's slip for those first two days but make sure to give some kind of timeline. For example, I had an EE call in on Friday that his leg brace broke (didn't even know he had one) and he was instructed to bring in a doctor's slip excusing him for that day. He brought in a doctor's slip dated on Monday stating that the leg brace was fixed but nothing stating that he could not work on Friday. He was instructed to obtain something excusing him for Friday. As of yesterday he didn't bring anything in and today he will get his warning due to his attendance level with this absence.

Hope this helps.

Irie

Yes Linda, it does. That is exactly what I was going to do but was just wondering how others might handle the situation. The next time we revise our employee handbooks I am going to lobby again for employees to have to bring in a doctor's excuse after three days of absence. Thank you for your time.