Non-exempt - No Lunch

hrtx

I have a non-exempt employee who would like to work through lunch once a week so that they can leave an hour early for a weekly doctor's appointment.  I feel they should be using their sick time for this appointment and need to take lunch.  Am I off base here?

 

ddo3245

What does your internal policy say?  This would not cause a FLSA problem since it is all in the same workweek.  Most of the companies I have worked for or with would allow this, but it really depends on whether your policy is flexible enough to allow you to do this.

TXHRGuy

[quote user="hrtx"]

I have a non-exempt employee who would like to work through lunch once a week so that they can leave an hour early for a weekly doctor's appointment.  I feel they should be using their sick time for this appointment and need to take lunch.  Am I off base here?

[/quote]

Check your state law to be sure that a lunch break is not required.  If the state requires a lunch break, it may also require that it not be used to start a shift late or end it early.

If your sick time policy puts a reasonable cap on the leave bank, then I wouldn't be very energetic about finding ways to make people use it.  This sounds like the kind of thing that can make HR seem petty and create animosity between workers or departments and HR, particularly if there is no past practice or policy established.  On the other hand, if there's a written policy, a past practice, you should follow the practice or policy.  If sick leave banks accrue quickly and without reasonable cap, then you should take steps to change the policy.