uniform allowance

dynamite9551

we pay our office and clinical staff a discretionary uniform allowance each year of $200 (we are so generous). The criteria is set as: having 1 yr of employment and work 30 hours per week. we pay this bonus/allowance at the end of october or the first pay in november. we also gross up for tax purposes so the employee gets he $200.

now i have a few clincial employees who have not worked the 30 hours (approximately 28.5)and they want me to "round" up to 30 so they qualify. part of the complaint stems from the fact that 2 years ago we stopped paying employees for their lunch hours - so needless to say we expected them to work more hours to make up for the lunch hour "being taken away" - but they don't think that is fair, yada, yada.

Suggestions about how to handle this issue will be welcomed. (oh i forgot to mention one detail -this employee has advised us they have applied for a job with one of our competition's offices) because we are "always" taking benefits away.

thanks!

SMace

You have two options. Stick to your communicated policy or cave to the whiner.

Tell her you have an established policy that you cannot make exceptions to. If you allow 28.5, why does the person working 26.5 not get it? It is a benefit that you recieve when you are a full-time employee (I assume that is your rationale) and full time employees are ones that work at least 30 hours. If you would like to increase your hours we will do everything we can to honor your request. Have a nice day.