Absenteeism

SHEILA

In our handbook we have as an "excused absense" a note from a doctor or hospital that the employee was unable to work and for how long. It reads" All other unpaid absences are onsidered to be unexcused and subject to disciplinary action".
We have an employee that has used that many times over. At what point can we do something about this absenteeism?

marc

You have a bit of a dilemma. Your policy requires a judgement call that could be made at one unexcused absence, or upon several. But you also should enforce this judgement call consistently throughout your labor force. The last thing you want to do is to treat someone with Title VII protection differently than someone without it.

HRCalico

Sheila, I feel your pain. I have an employee that has been giving me fits for quite some time. We are addressing it by clarifying our policy, which we will then communicate and enforce.

I am actually looking at going to a no-fault attendance policy (points system) although I suspect we will still have some wiggle room there because we're a small employer in a rural community with a tiny labor pool, and being able to take time off for your kid's t-ball game is supposed to be a benefit of some sort.

Off subject. Sorry. Anyway, once you decide where the line is drawn, I do feel that employees should be given a chance to follow the policy. In short, don't punish them for what they did before the policy was enacted but rather how they are after the policy goes in force.

That said, if you're really fed up, invoke at-will, thank them for their time, and show them the door. :>)