Seniority

NHHR

Please help!?
If we decide to rehire a past employee (who has been gone less than one year) are we required to give them back their seniority? Could I take a poll to see what other companies are doing out there in this situation (i.e. vacation, bonus etc.) Are rehires required to start from scratch or do they reassume their status at departure? Thanks!
[email]hr@communitybanknh.com[/email]

ray a

This subject came up a few posts down - under Rehire. What I said there was:

Our policy is if the person was gone for more than one year, then they start over as a new employee. Less than a year, then their seniority is reduced by the amount of time they were gone.

I don't believe there is any requirement, but state laws could vary. We do it so good employees who leave, realize their mistake, and come back are not punished.

NaeNae55

If you don't already have a policy written up for this, you need to make one. Also, you might check with some long term employees to see if they have any knowledge of how this was handled in the past.

We have reinstated employees (they come back with an adjusted hire date and get the same benefits they were earning before they left) and rehires (they are treated like new hires). You had to have left less than 6 months ago to be a reinstated employee. If more than 6 months, you are a rehire. The only perk rehires get is if they were in the 401k plan before they left. That is the only benefit they can get into at the same level even if they left more than 6 months ago. Otherwise, they start over.

Good luck!

Nae

HRinNH

Welcome to the forum Kristen! We don't have a written policy for rehires but we usually reinstate them to full benefits and seniority if they're rehired within a year.

Cheryl C.

pork1

NHHR: Yes indeed welcome to the Forum. We rehire and give credit for all past service for things like 401 K. However, if seperation was for greater than 6 months they must start over. If less than 6 months then they can re-instate the medical and life insurance policy on the first day of the next month. Vacation time and sick time is re-established in accordance with our written policy. Sick time is awarded on the date of 1 December each year. The individual would have been paid out any vacation and sick time accurred so if they want to pay us back for the pay out we can re-establish their full benefit, accordingly.

PORK

WT

Unless you have a union contract, the most important question is, "What do you want?" You may do as you wish. However, if you are hiring an employee, I take it as a given that you want them to work for you. It would be insane to bring them back to work if they left under a cloud or could not perform. I then assume they are a good and valuable employee or have the potential to be one. If so, you want them to be happy. Nothing is worse than the feeling that you were taken advantage of because somebody could do so. This works on a person and is very harmful. Rather than have a person think they were abused but had to take the job anyway, you might better hire somebody else who would start fresh and not hold hard feeling.