Holiday day pay

1980084

This is what our "Personnel Policies and Procedures" for our child care center for children from birth to five yrs old - states regarding holiday pay [Any absence taken the day before or the day after a holiday must be approved prior to the holiday...If the employee submits a doctor's note or has documents to substantiate the absence the employee can submit a PAF to be paid, the PAF will be considered]

I've an employee who has been warned (documented) about their attendance and tardiness - as a matter of fact the day before Thanksgiving Eve. These are the details and what has transpired:
1) 7:30A-6P (12:30 - 3:00 break)employee tour time
2) Employee has two children enrolled here
3) 11/22 ee called in "I've a lot to do today. My lights were cut off - so i'll be in around noon because I've got to get my lights turned on"
4) Employee never said either of her children were ill as one of the reason she'd be late.
5) Employee clocked in at 10:45 and 12:38 clocked out for lunch.
6) Before 3P - her time to report back to work - the employee called stating that her child was sick - that she would not be returning to work.
7) When she returned to work on Monday and up to this day has she submitted a document substantiting the illness of her child.

So because of her attendance/tardy record - and because she was advised the day before of her lack of dependability, we did not pay her for the holiday. Please advise and

Bless your heart

NaeNae55

And what does your policy say?


Nae

1980084

Our policy says "Any absence taken the day before or the day after a holiday must be approved prior to the holiday. If there is not approved PAF on file the employee will not be paid. The employee must submit a PAF for “Personal Leave Unpaid”. If the employee submits a doctor’s note or has documents to substantiate the absence the employee can submit a PAF to be paid – the PAF will be considered for approval."

NaeNae55

Your question then is really was she technically absent? She came in late, worked less than two hours and then took the rest of the day off. It sounds like she worked the minimum she felt she had to work to get paid for the holiday. You are wondering if you can count her absent even though she worked a very little.

Do you address minimum hours/days anywhere else in your policies? For instance, in our policies we say for discipline purposes an absense is anything more than 2 consecutive hours (she would get 2 counted against her for the same day here).

This is a tough call. If it were me, I would terminate her immediately. She had 2 excuses (and they were not necessarily believable) the day after she was counseled on her attendance record. I would pay her (as a safeguard) for the holiday and terminate her.

If you are not going to terminate her, I might then consider withholding the holiday pay. It all depends on your state law and how your policy is written. Maybe withholding her pay is the way to get her attention. However, since she is so unreliable I suspect her trouble with her utilities was due to non-payment. Someone who is so unreliable that they don't keep utilities on for their children and then STILL risks losing pay is not someone I would like working for me. I certainly would not like them being a role model for your students.

Good luck!

Nae