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njjel · December 2006

A salaried ee has worked just 2 weeks. She missed one full day of work due to being sick. She has accrued a bit of time in her leave bank but not enough to cover the whole day? Are we obligated to pay her for the day she missed. She missed an entire day. payroll is awaiting my response!

NaeNae55 · December 2006

It really depends on your sick leave policy. You can deduct if you have it in your policy.

We consider the risk though of any possible FSLA violations and would just pay it (in case our policy isn't worded correctly enough for the DOL). Some companies also deduct from the leave balance and will even go into a negative balance that the employee has to make up. We have never done it that way.

Our policy says you have to be with us 90 days to receive any leave, even though we begin accruing it on day 1. I have paid exempt people several times over the years without touching their leave when they were gone in the first 90 days. It's annoying, but we feel it is worth it in the end.

Check how your sick leave policy is written. That should help you decide.

Good luck!

Nae

njjel · December 2006

We don't have a sick leave policy other than the ee gets 12 paid sick days. I say we advance her the sick pay! any other thoughts?

Toto · December 2006

Since you wanted another thought I’ll chime in. If you don't have a sick leave policy other than the ee gets 12 paid sick days I think I would also advance her the sick pay from the 12. Let her know you are doing that to help her in this situation as a new employee, hopes she appreciates it; then cross your fingers & pray it won’t happen again and she is a “poor hire”.

You may want to clarify you policy in the future.

WT · December 2006

Go ahead and advance her the sick leave. Presuming she will be a good employee, there is no need to start her employment on a sour note. If she is a poor employee and you end up getting rid of her while she is on probation (I am assuming you have some kind of probation), then, one day of sick leave really will not make that much of a difference.

tlavelle · December 2006

If the employee is salaried exempt, you have to pay them the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work regardless to the number of days or hours worked. If the employee has any sick time accrued you can use it, otherwise they would be paid regular hours.

Elizabetharess · December 2006

Agreed you pay it. Alot of er's don't pay it and that is a time bomb. One thing to note at least this is what I have been made aware of is for you to make sure that the wording of sick leave or vacation or any PTO practices does not use "earned" but accrued. That can sneak up on an er in court.
ERS

jimbomt · December 2006

However, full day deductions for sickness are permissible. For future reference

E Wart · December 2006

You are correct, you can deduct full days for exempt employees. However, if it is due to sickness, I would advise you to get a policy in writing. (When can they begin using PTO, can it be taken in less than full day, do you have a sick pay plan that is separate than the PTO? if so, when is an employee eligible, what is the policy, do you need a doctors form, etc.) Usually (I think I am right here) when you have a PTO plan you don't have a separate Sick Pay Plan. (You might have a STD policy though).

Also,
E Wart

hrpagersd · December 2006

We also advance in accordance with our policy.

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