Attendance Policies

Miriam George · October 2001

We currently have no written attendance policy, but employ over 200 full-time employees. We want to look at both the "point" system and also a "no-fault" absentee policy. Does anyone have sample policies that they would share with me?

Gar · October 2001

I suggest that you do not put a policy in writing because there will be times, and they will occurr, where you'll have to live by the policy and you won't want to. Simply let each supervisor determine what is unsatisfactory attendance, based on the business needs of his/her organization, and reasonably apply progresive discipline. Let's say you have an employee who has been with you a few months and has accumulated more than 10 days off during that period. You almost certainly would want to terminate employment. However, would you want to treat, in the same fashion, someone who has been with you 10 years, has a spotless record and suddenly develops a similar attendance problem? I would think not considering the investment you've made in that employee. I work for a local government and we strive for consistentcy but can't always achieve that. But we can always be reasonable. I assure you we're a lot better off not having a written policy.

js · October 2001

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-29-01 AT 05:05PM (CST)[/font][p]I think the value of a written attendance policy varies with the type, size, and culture of an organization. I am in the manufacturing environment and I would not know what to do without a policy. Our unemployment division specifically asks if the employee had access to a specific written policy if we have to terminate someone for attendance reasons. Besides the unemployment compensation issue I worry about lawsuits. Being about 40% white, 40% black, and 20% other-- I am fearful of wrongful discharge lawsuits because one race was terminated with six absences and another was not terminated with six absences. I do not advocate no fault attendance policies because they are very strict and do not take into account a reason. We have excused and unexcused absences and absences can always be excessive. Also, with no written policy at all, assuming you have more than 50 employees, how can you ever fully comply with FMLA requirements?
oh yeah-- our policy states that any absence may be deemed excused by management on a case by case basis (to take care of the 10 year employee)

Miriam George · October 2001

I am new at the H.R. job with this manufacturing firm. To answer your question, we have not been in FMLA compliance, but I plan to change that.

js · October 2001

I feel for you...you have quite a job ahead of you.
If you are a member of the law center on this site there are some good publications on FMLA you can download. The government web sites are good for useful forms,etc.
I would be careful in writing my attendance policy so you do not end up creating employment contracts. Also make sure management always has some way out, or some way to change the outcome of very special circumstances.
I assume you are non-union.
You can e-mail me at [email]dldhr40@hotmail.com[/email] and I can send you a copy of our stuff if you want.

Gar · October 2001

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-30-01 AT 12:30PM (CST)[/font][p]FMLA compliance is quite simple without a written attendance policy because, employers cannot hold FMLA time-off against employees. In determining unsatisfactory attendance, we do not consider that time off. Everything else (sans Workers' Comp) is fair game. Again, each supervisor determines what is/isn't satisfactory attendance in his/her own shop and reasonably applies that standard. It's incumbent upon the HR advisor who pretty much knows the makeup of the organization, to make sure that factors such as race, age or gender do not enter the equation when the supervisor comes to HR with the problem. It's been my experience that as long as there is a legitimate business reason for treating people differently, you needn't really worry about losing discrimination claims. I love to see the look on an EEOC investigator's face when he/she asks for our attendance policy and they're told we don't have one. They won't shoot you, and you aren't going to lose a claim for not having a policy. You will lose if you act unreasonably. In a previous HR asignment, I worked for a Fortune 100 telecommunications company that did not have a written attendance policy for its non-union employees.

Gillian · October 2001

We don't have a point system or any other tracking system either. We depend on the employee to call the supervisor if they are going to be late or absent and for the supervisor to deal with problems of attendance when the need arises. In my opinion, employees who want to miss work, and supervisors who allow that to happen, will do so with or without a point system. With a point system, they just become more adept at getting around the rules or justifying why an absence was a legitimate exception.

Back in my consulting days, I had several clients who were in manufacturing. I don't remember any that had a point system. No Fault systems are not viable any more because of FMLA and all the other reasons that employees can legitimately take time off.

The only reason I can think of to have a formal attendance program is if there is a major problem which needs to be brought under control and the organization thinks that a formal program is the best way to do that.

Attendance Policies

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