Employee missing a LOT of work

Min · October 2002

I know with FMLA you have to be careful, but what if the illness is not a "serious" health condition??? We have an employee who is an important part of our business office (she posts all patient/insurance payments for our hospital), however, she is gone a LOT. Whether it is because she is ill, her child is ill, her daycare is ill, or daycare is closed. IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!! Her dept manager has asked me to see what options she has. Frankly, the manager wants to scare the heck out of her regarding losing her job, but I am not sure that is the "proper" thing to do. The employee is a single mother, so I do understand that it is hard to come to work when you have a sick child, and we are in the healthcare field. Does anyone have any advice on this situation. She does not qualify for FMLA because she is out due to a sinus infection. It is frustrating because we have employees who have to cover for the one that is out just so our patients do not go to collections because their payments are not being posted. This employee has had 40 sick/unscheduled days off since the first of the year, and that is not even counting October.
Any info would be appreciated.

Mindy

Theresa Gegen TX · October 2002

Don't assume that an illness does not give rise to FMLA rights, because you think it's not "serious". Even relatively minor illnesses, if the keep the employee off work for 3 days and require treatment can qualify for FMLA. If she is out for a medical reason, give her the paperwork and see if she can get it certified. Also, the sick child may qualify for FMLA.

You need to discipline the employee for absences that are not FMLA covered. If nothing has been done so far, I believe the supervisor needs to sit down with her and have a talk with her about her non-FMLA absences.

Outside of the FMLA, her excuses really don't matter. Even though I sympathize with her plight as a single mother, she needs to take the initiative to make arrangements to get daycare for her children and to take care of personal business off of work hours. She is probably not the only single parent working at your facility, so you may want to help her find out how others handle these issues. But the bottom line is, you have to start holding her accountable (disciplining her) for her absenses.

Good Luck!

Crout · October 2002

I don't see how this is FMLA related, UNLESS she has applied for an unpaid leave due to a specific illness that has been verified by her physician. What you have described is an attendance problem that does not seem to fall under FMLA. IF.....I say IF...that is the case, then you need to follow your in-house policies and procedures that govern attendance.

Gillian · October 2002

Sometimes these situations are the toughest to deal with. There are a few options, including "scaring the heck out of her about her job", although that should be done properly. The first thing to remember is that some of the absences which involve illness may be covered by FMLA, thus cannot be considered if corrective action is considered. Even sinus infection might be if it required a doctors care. You may have the ability to restructure the work hours so that her need and yours are accomodated. That, of course, is always dependent on the interaction that she has with others, but sometimes if we focus on results, rather than work hours, some flexibility is available. Another option is to try to help her prioritize her life, either by you or by someone at your EAP, if you have one. Maybe she would understand how her absenses affect others if she is told about all of the problems which occur when she isn't there and could be encourages to minimize the absences. Then you have the "lose your job" option. You would start this with counseling, when you tell her that if she doesn't change her mode of operation that she will eventually have to be replaced. Then progressive corrective action follows, the speed of which you choose depending her improvement.

Rockie · October 2002

I can certainly sympathize with you being in the healthcare industry myself. If these don't qualify for FMLA, this is certainly a serious attendance problem. The reason she is not at work is not really the issue....the issue IS,she was hired for a job and she is not there to perform it. Employees need to understand that employers cannot make accommodations for them simply because they have lifestyle issues. People should always have a backup, especially in the area of childcare. Either a neighbor, husband, parent, etc. should be available in case of an emergency situation where there is no provider available or the child gets sick.

I would treat this as a disciplinary issue. Talk to the employee and tell her that this is excessive absences and you cannot continue to tolerate this. Advise her that whatever the issues are, she needs to either get backup in place or do whatever to ensure that she is able to be at work.

I would continue to track it and if it does not improve, give a written warning and then dismissal if it continues. This sends a very bad message to other employees when we, as supervisors, tolerate this type of behavior. Other employees start to feel "put upon" and may start calling in also.

arodriguez · October 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-24-02 AT 10:17AM (CST)[/font][p]40 days out? This employee wouldn't get a whole lot of sympathy from me.

I seriously hope you have an attendance policy of some sort that will give you guidance as to how to handle the situation.

I have found that most physicians wouldn't give a person a release from work for a simple "sinus infection" unless it is extremely serious. You may want to request that the employee have her physician complete a Medical Certification to further to ensure that this situation does not fall under FMLA, then be sure to notify her that (if?) her leave does not count toward FMLA. If the leave does not count toward FMLA and you can show that, you have much more room to take disiciplinary action.

As for this employee being a single mother. I do realize that it is somewhat more difficult for single parents when a child is sick, however, being a single parent myself, I also realize that it is MY responsibility to ensure that I have backup sitters available when my child is too ill to attend daycare/school, when she had dental/dr. appts. and when the daycare is closed so as to inconvenience my employer as little as possible. There ARE people who will watch children who are ill and not allowed to go to their regular daycare and/or school. (Don't get me wrong, I do take time off if my daughter needs the emotional support from me during a serious illness, however, coughs and colds generally don't require me to be right there every moment even though her regular daycare will not allow her admittance.)

In the past, when employees have used the "no daycare" reason to excessive levels (over 2-3 times), I have given them the State's daycare referral number and explained that I, too, am in the same situation. I have coached them to ensure that back-up sitters are available.

My non-legal advice... document, document, document, and give a written warning (if your company uses progressive discipline). Or, you may also want to consider putting her on a 30/60/90 day improvement contract (I like to call this a "last chance agreement) where the employee must show a certain degree of improvement in her attendance or risk termination.

A. Rodriguez
Human Resource Manager

Employee missing a LOT of work

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