Daily Intermittent Leave?
nsauchuk
6 Posts
We have an hourly EE who has MS. A few months after she was hired, (3 years ago) she started to come in late every day. Sometimes it was one to a few minutes late, then it escalated and the few minutes turned into 10-15 minutes. When we called her on it, she told us she had MS and that mornings are very difficult for her.
I gave her the FMLA paperwork to consider the possibility of allowing intermittent leave. It took her a while to have her doctor complete it. When she finally brought the paperwork back I still could not see, how her tardies tied into the chronic ailment. I called her in to talk to her about it because I honestly did not understand MS. Our meeting was followed by a "hositle" letter from her physician stating that MS is a very complicated disease and depression is a very big part of it. The doctor felt we were putting undue pressure on our EE and we would not want to be held responsible if the EE were to commit suicide. (Yes, it was ugly!)
We decided we would give her a later start time to "accomodate" her. We met with her and offered her an 8:30 AM start time but she did not want to have a "scheduled" later start time. There are days "she may need to leave early" or feels good enough to start early. Again, we accomodated, and the EE was schduled to start anytime between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM. (Talk about a record keeping nightmare!) The EE has not kept up her part of the bargain. She has been coming in closer to 9:00 AM on most days. Also, on several occasions she has been off for extended periods of 2 weeks or so due to medication she must take for her condition.
Bottom line, I would like to go back and give her an 8:30 AM start time (to accomodate) and if she is not able to come in on time, start a disciplinary process. My approach would be that "we have a business to run," and while we would prefer she is here at 8:00 AM (most EEs start at 7:00 AM), we'll work with the 8:30 AM start.
Are there any other issues I may need to look out for?
Thanks!
I gave her the FMLA paperwork to consider the possibility of allowing intermittent leave. It took her a while to have her doctor complete it. When she finally brought the paperwork back I still could not see, how her tardies tied into the chronic ailment. I called her in to talk to her about it because I honestly did not understand MS. Our meeting was followed by a "hositle" letter from her physician stating that MS is a very complicated disease and depression is a very big part of it. The doctor felt we were putting undue pressure on our EE and we would not want to be held responsible if the EE were to commit suicide. (Yes, it was ugly!)
We decided we would give her a later start time to "accomodate" her. We met with her and offered her an 8:30 AM start time but she did not want to have a "scheduled" later start time. There are days "she may need to leave early" or feels good enough to start early. Again, we accomodated, and the EE was schduled to start anytime between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM. (Talk about a record keeping nightmare!) The EE has not kept up her part of the bargain. She has been coming in closer to 9:00 AM on most days. Also, on several occasions she has been off for extended periods of 2 weeks or so due to medication she must take for her condition.
Bottom line, I would like to go back and give her an 8:30 AM start time (to accomodate) and if she is not able to come in on time, start a disciplinary process. My approach would be that "we have a business to run," and while we would prefer she is here at 8:00 AM (most EEs start at 7:00 AM), we'll work with the 8:30 AM start.
Are there any other issues I may need to look out for?
Thanks!
Comments
I think what I might do, if I were you, would be to have a conversation with a medical doctor who I knew and trusted, one who could educate me and give me a level of comfort as to the realities of what I might expect of an employee with MS. A secretary I had years ago, when there were such animals, told me, "I have MS. Ordinarily you'll never know that. I may trip over a garbage can or bump into a desk on occasion, but I intend to be here every day and work as hard as anybody else in this office." We never mentioned it again. I do know that the disease affects people differently and it's progression cannot be anticipated or pigeon-holed with perfect clarity.
Don't jump on the discipline train until you have had the conversation I recommended. The employee has a serious medical condition and it would not be appropriate by any stretch to kick in discipline when you don't understand the factors you're dealing with.
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/necn/bios/ilemp.shtml[/url]
You might want to learn more about MS. This looks like a good site:
[url]http://www.nmss.org/[/url]
I'd suggest telling the employee you'll give her whatever the FMLA entitles her to, but you need her help to understand what that is. I'd send the doc her recent attendance history and ask if it looks right, and if that's generally what you might expect.
Good luck.
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com
Thanks again.
We will talk to the EE this week and have her chose the start time she is comfortable with. (Of couse, the start times we offer are start times we can live with.) We believe she will chose the 8:30 AM start time. If she's tardy 3 times after the new schedule is approved, we will move her up to the 9:00 AM start. If she's tardy 3 more times after she's moved up to the 9:00 AM start time, the disciplinary process begins. This at least, is a trail to prove we've really tried to accommodate her.
Thanks again.
Good luck.