HAVE TO USE VACATION HOURS?

System · May 2003

We have sick time & vacation time. Employees are mainly non-exempt. We allow vacation time to be taken in hours and minutes.

We don't have a written policy that says ee must use available vacation time for any time gone that's not covered under "sick". Usually not a problem -should someone ask for a day without pay and have vacation time available, they'd be told they had to use vacation.

The problem comes with folks being "late" 10-15 minutes (unplanned). We have some supervisors that just note reason and ee is docked. Some supervisors are telling ee that because they have vacation time available, they must use it. Their idea is if they are forced to give up their vacation hours, it might help control their problem (not to say we don't visit about lateness issues whether they are docked or whether they call it vacation).

Do some of you have a specific policy regarding when ee's "have to" use vacation? Also, if an ee used all their sick time, and called in "sick", but had available vacation time, would you force them to use it?

I need to come up with some standard way to handle these issues, but I'm uncertain what that should be. Any ideas?

Thanks!!

scottorr · May 2003

If this were a re-occurring issue with the same employees, I would address it during performance review time. If our hourly employees are more than 10 minutes late we used to doc their pay. But they had a time clock that wouldn't lie so there was no getting around it. Where I am now 90% of our employees are salaried so we are not allowed to doc them. If I were you I would keep a consistant policy for all hourly employees.

Hunter1 · May 2003

If I understand your question: Our rule is very straightforward and simple, employees must use all paid time available to them before they can use unpaid time. (In WI, we have to be careful because it is the employee's choice of substituting paid time or not for state FMLA, so they get their choice if the absence qualifies for state FMLA)

LindaS · May 2003

I'm also in WI and have the same issue regarding FMLA as Hunter1 but in instances of tardiness, we do not "dock" the employee's vacation time but rather deal with in on a disciplinary level. If an employee misses less than 4 hours of their shift, they receive one point in accordance with the attendance policy. My personal opinion is that allowing an employee to utilize vacation and/or PTO time for tardiness sends the wrong message and that is that it's okay to be late since they can just pull from their vacation bank. I would think instead that you want to send a STRONG message that employees are expected to be at work, on time, every day so dealing with it on a discipline level is more effective.

We recently had a situation with our union president who missed 5 minutes in his shift and received a "point" for it. He was not happy but understood that it was in keeping with the policy. Needless to say he has not been tardy since.

wmh · May 2003

I like the idea of your point system. Sounds like a very even handed way of handling absenteeism. How many points do you issue for a full day absence? At what number of points do you begin disciplinary proceedings? Thanks in advance for your help.

LindaS · May 2003

wmh - if you provide your email address I will forward a copy of our attendance policy. In answer to your question, an employee receives 2 "points" for a full day's absence, 4 "points" for a no call/no show (must call within one hour of the start of the shift). At 8 points they receive a verbal written warning, at 10 it's a formal written warning, at 12 a 3-day suspension and at 14 termination. The points work on a "rolling" year.

LeeR · May 2003

Since vacation time is a benefit you can run it preety much any way you like as long as you run it the same way for all. Policy stating vacation cannot be used in place of sick leave except when ee is on FMLA and vacation cannot be taken in less than one hour increments cuts out all the late folks.

ray a · May 2003

We require employees to use vacation or personal time before unpaid time off is granted. If their personal time is all used up, then they must use vacation even if they call in sick. We allow them to use personal time for whatever reason they want, sick, doctor's appointments, Christmas shopping, whatever.

Once they have depleted their PTO banks and start using unpaid time off, we begin the progressive disciplinary process, unless it is FMLA time. I tell all new employees, the number one reason we terminate employment is for attendance problems.

HAVE TO USE VACATION HOURS?

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