Mandatory work day

Kennedy

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-04-04 AT 04:21PM (CST)[/font][br][br]We shut down production in our plant for a week last month to do inventory. We made this week a mandatory work week. Employees were aware of this and were told that no absences will be excused unless they can bring documentation as to why they were absent. One employee did not show up for two days and we terminated her. She said one day she was sick and the other she had car trouble. She was already having attendance problems. She is talking with some current employees and telling them we cannot require mandatory work days. Did we do something illegal?

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-04-04 AT 04:43PM (CST)[/font][br][br]All work days are "mandatory" -- if an employee wants to have a job and get paid, they better show up. Whether or not you may fire someone for missing one or more work days is a matter of state or federal law, any existing contracts, (individual or collective bargaining), and/or company policy and practice.

In this case, you set up a requirement and a procedure she did not follow to get the absence "excused." Whether or not then her explanation warrants her non-compliance with the requirement is a management judgement call under your company policy.