Sick Leave
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16 Posts
We do not pay out sick leave upon termination, but are considering changing that--any suggestions regarding this? We were initially thinking mayble paying out 25% of the sick leave balance upon retirement from the company. Does anyone have a successful policy to share?
Melanie
Comments
Whenever someone asks this type of question, I immediately want to ask "what is the goal of this plan"?
Years ago, we realized that employees would call in "sick" when they really weren't sick. It may have been a family member sick, or maybe the water heater broke and they needed time off so they would call in "sick" in order to be paid. We changed to a PTO plan at that time. It is a matter of symantecs, but it was important to our goals. So now we have a PTO plan and a vacation plan. In order to use vacation time, it must be approved at least one week in advance with the exception of Inclement Weather or FMLA. But our PTO plan is available for anytime the employee needed unplanned time off.
At the same time, we didn't want to encourage our employees to take time off, so when we implemented the PTO plan we also said that we would buy back any hours over 40 on the employee's anniversary. We pay out all sick leave upon termination.
So back to my original question "What is the goal of this plan?" If you are trying to build up long-term employees and want to reward your retirees for their service (which would encourage other employees to stick around as well), then you are on the right track. But if you have a different goal, then you need to decide if paying out 25% of the sick leave balance upon retirment will reach that goal.
I agree with LadyAnn completely. Identifying the goal is critical.
Another question I would ask is if it is reasonable to suspect that this program will help you reach your goal. For example, 1/2 our employee base are college students. They would cash out upon graduation. If you were in my boat, would this plan make sense if "retirement" meant quitting after 2-4 years? I would think strategically about whether or not this is the right tool in your own context with respect to the goal you have in mind.