Bereavement Leave
HRQ
2,849 Posts
Preschool Director's mother has been sick and passed away last Friday. Mother lived in CA. PS Director called a teacher at her school to advise she would be out for TWO WEEKS. She left a voice mail message for the office mgr at the corporate office (not her supervisor) indicating the funeral arrangements but nothing else. PS Director did not call her supervisor.
Policy states employees must call their supervisor in advance of an absence. Our company does not offer bereavement leave.
I'd like her supervisor to call her on her cell phone (she didn't leave a # in CA where she can be reached) requiring she return to work monday.
My questions are:
1) If we CAN reach her, does anyone see a problem with requiring her to return after one week? If she refuses, should we treat it as a voluntary quit?
2) If we CAN'T reach her, should we treat this as job abandonment? We KNOW where she is and why, based on hearsay, but have not spoken directly to her to approve or deny the time off. Even if she HAD spoken to her supervisor, we wouldn't have approved two weeks off for this.
I hate to sound insensitive about this, but she's placed her school and the company in a difficult position by taking off without making arrangements for appropriate coverage with her supervisor. We pulled another person to cover the school in her absence, leaving ANOTHER school in a pinch - just not as bad as her school would have been.
Tried to keep it brief but include everything you might need to know to answer. I appreciate whatever advice you can offer!
Policy states employees must call their supervisor in advance of an absence. Our company does not offer bereavement leave.
I'd like her supervisor to call her on her cell phone (she didn't leave a # in CA where she can be reached) requiring she return to work monday.
My questions are:
1) If we CAN reach her, does anyone see a problem with requiring her to return after one week? If she refuses, should we treat it as a voluntary quit?
2) If we CAN'T reach her, should we treat this as job abandonment? We KNOW where she is and why, based on hearsay, but have not spoken directly to her to approve or deny the time off. Even if she HAD spoken to her supervisor, we wouldn't have approved two weeks off for this.
I hate to sound insensitive about this, but she's placed her school and the company in a difficult position by taking off without making arrangements for appropriate coverage with her supervisor. We pulled another person to cover the school in her absence, leaving ANOTHER school in a pinch - just not as bad as her school would have been.
Tried to keep it brief but include everything you might need to know to answer. I appreciate whatever advice you can offer!
Comments
>Policy states employees must call their supervisor in advance of an
>absence. Our company does not offer bereavement leave.
In order to frame my response - does your company state what consequences will be taken if the above policy is not followed?
It sounds like the Director gave you notice (via the office manager), but just not in the prescribed manor. It is not unusual for staff to believe that the death of an immediate family member takes precedence over work in these circumstances. I also don't think 2 weeks off is unusual for an out of state funeral for a parent. I would think an adult child would have to make certain arrangements and it is only logical that she would stay in Ca. to get it all done in one short period of time, rather than returning repeatedly.
I don't know how you can ask her to return right away and then consider it a resignation when she doesn't immediately comply. I also don't see how you can treat it as job abandonment when she gave you notice. You would certainly be paying UI on this one.
Employment law attorneys will tell you that the number one reason employees seek out attorneys and employers get sued, is that the employee feels they were treated unfairly. I would be very cautious before proceeding in the way prescribed.
Just my two cents worth......Shawn
Just my opinion, I work and support "the family atmosphere" at work. I wouldn't consider this a reason for an issue.
I know a lot of teachers and none of them would ever fail to show up, for even one day, without arranging for a substitute. It sounds like this employee lacks a sense of responsibility and, if she does return to work after a week, you may want to look at the advisability of retaining her. The death of a parent is heart-rending but most adults don't lose sight of their responsibilities because of it.
(edit) Sorry; now I see that you do not even have a bereavement leave policy. In that event, maybe you can do whatever you guys decide to do in the case of this senior level employee. Do I sense that someone is looking for a reason to jettison her from the tubes?
I would advise lighten up unless there are other issues. If so, I would concentrate on them and not this one. Think of the ramifications to the rest of your organization as to employee morale, turnover, etc.
Good luck and tread carefully.
If your policy does not state the consequences for failure to follow policy in this situation, I would do one of the following (otherwise I would follow the policy):
1. If your intention is to retain the employee, don't call her while she is away and demand she return earlier. Since you have the situation covered, let it stand until the employee returns. Once she returns, write her up for not following established policies. During the write up process you can be as nice, "Susie Q., although the company and I feel for your loss, we do have a policy and it wasn't followed in this instance...", or as harsh as you like. Be prepared though, as taking this action will fulfill the HR person's desire to follow policies and be consistent, but it may also very well alienate the employee (and my motto is, for every one unhappy employee, there's really about 3 more - what else are you going to talk about during lunch and breaks).
2. If your intention is to term the employee, then do it. She didn't follow procedures, she knew of the procedures (I'm assuming this) and so therefore it's job abandonment. You may get hit with the unemployment costs, but at least you don't have to deal with a problem employee.
Shadow - did your case involve a union?
Shawn - I knew my post could sound insensitive, but this is the Director of a preschool with around 100 children and about 20 staff members. She has ulimate responsibility for the success (or lack of) her school and she failed to notify anyone but one of her own employees that she wouldn't be in. The message she left for the office manager was basically "just wanted to let you know about the funeral arrangements - the service will be at Joe's Mortuary on wednesday". She said nothing about being off for two weeks, didn't leave a phone number for us to call. She typically calls her supervisor's cell phone several times a week, but couldn't manage to call about taking two weeks off.
Sunny - I appreciate your comments. If either of my parents were to die, unexpectedly or after lengthy illness, it would tear me apart. I would also make damned sure I talked to my supervisor to ensure I had a job when I returned. I would also make sure he knew how to reach me while I was out of town.
Don D - quite the perceptive man, you are... x;-) In my post, I tried to focus only on the current situation. The employee has been written up three times for serious performance issues. Each time, she'll improve, then go back to her old ways, then be written up again, etc. She has yet to accept responsibility for her position. (Nothing is ever her fault)
The fact that I even posted my questions shows I'm not sure forcing her to cut her two weeks short is the right thing to do. Her supervisor is forced to ASSUME she'll be gone two weeks because a teacher on her staff happened to mention it to the assistant director who then called the area supervisor. If an hourly staff member simply left a message with a peer that she'd be back in two weeks because her mother passed away, I'd label it job abandonment because she didn't notify a supervisor, wouldn't you?
Curious to see what you all think.
Our policy gives two - three days bereavement leave based on the relationship of the relative, but most employees take at least a week off. They use their PTO time to make up the difference. We've never had an issue where an employee was put at risk of losing their job because they took off for a death.
If you cannot reach this person by phone, of course, you will have to wait to address this when she returns. If you do terminate this person, be prepared that she most assuredly would be granted unemployment, but the morale problems that would probably ensue from your other employees would also be an issue. I would probably offer sympathy for the death of the relative and advise that you wished that she had left a number where she could have been reached in case something came up about her position while she was out. Personally, I would not terminate in this case.
Right now, we have a case where a relative of an employee was missing and presumed drowned on Labor Day. The body was just found this past weekend. This person has been on an emotional roller coaster since Labor Day weekend. She has had to take time off and has just been broken hearted and devastated. We have just had to be very sensitive and understanding. Do we have a policy for this....no....but still we have had to maintain our compassion and understanding about a situation over which she has no control.
I would definately not order her to return but do as mwild suggests. There are better ways to weed people out than this one. If word got out to other ee's that this was your response to a death in the family it would be devastating to morale.
Good luck!
However, one must consider that you have placed several performance and attendance issues on to this person's file, but she has continued to get away with things; what makes this event any more powerful as the final straw that broke up your ee/employer relationship? I would make sure these warnings with behavorial changes for the good only to return to bad behavior, they must be timely and connected so that a jury can get past the death of her mother and the lack of understanding for her obvious confusion after being informed "MOTHER DIED".
Given any hesitation in taking the termination action on senior leader's part, then wait for her return and have a senior leader have a final straw conversation with this director. Regardless of the number of children, the director should be able to leave for two weeks and the organization run without stopping!
I would hate to think that our operation would shut down,if our director of production was away for two weeks.
Keep us posted as to how it all comes out! This is a very interesting case.
PORK
The passing away of a close family member is a very difficult situation but people also need to remember that there are other responsibilities that need to be met. If she was so grief stricken at the time that she failed to follow the proper procedures I can understand that but she hasn't made any attempt to follow up since then which I feel is where the true problem lies.
If you choose to terminate the EE will receive unemployment but I don't see where there would be any issues from a legal standpoint, as long as you do the same with any other similar situations.
After reading the other posts, I think the best course of action is to make every effort to contact the Director and ask her how much time she will need, gently reminding her that she is needed in her position. I would then give her the 2 weeks off. Whether or not you reach her I would issue her a written reprimand when she returns for not following pocedure by notifying a manager of her need for time off.
None of your employees should be aware of the reprimand, so you will avoid the fall out from firing someone for not following procesdure when their parent died. The written reprimand will serve as yet another piece of documentation to support continuing discipline, if she is a problem employee.
Discipline will occur, the troops will not be riled up, you won't feel like you are victimizing someone who acted dumb when they heard terrible news..... and if she continues to be a problem she will be terminated for other reasons.
Shawn
Also on top of verything else,HRQ, I would start thinking about having a bereavement leave benefit. I have never worked for a company without one.
Sounds like you will have another opportunity to terminate. Don't think I would want to alienate staff and cause additional problems. People feel very deeply when things involve the death of a parent.
Ooops! Just read ALL the posts. Hmmm. A Director with a lousy history of performance AND an attitude. You know, I think I'd want to fire her too, but I'd still wait until she returned and do it as professionally as possible.
I then said we all hoped the employee was doing OK, this must be a tough time for her, and some time this week please give the supervisor a call as she hadn't heard from the employee and wasn't sure what her plans were.
The employee called her supervisor today, said she'd be back a week from monday. Didn't ask about her school, coverage, etc. Just said "I'll be back on the 29th".
I realized today how I keep saying what I "would" do if I were in her situation, but I am NOT in her situation. I just know what I THINK I would do.
I consider myself to be sensitive and understanding (usually) but in this case I allowed my long-running frustration with her to affect my judgement. I still am bothered that she's shown no concern about her responsibilities here, BUT I agree completely that even if we termed her and kept everything confidential, the perception would still probably be negative. When she returns, her supervisor will address the issue of her abandoning her job responsiblities as tactfully as possible.
I've added "bereavement leave" to my list of stuff to consider over the next few months when revamping the employee handbook and our 2004 benefits package. Apparently, our company offered bereavement leave in the past, and it was a conscious decision of our new ownership to remove it.
I really appreciate all the input, and found it very valuable. I hope I can be as helpful to you as you've been to me!
This person could be suffering shock and extreme grief which can play havoc on your mind. Has she always acted responsibly in the past? Sounds like a lot to consider but I do think ordering her back to work before she is mentally capable will do your company more harm than good.
If she is not a reliable and dependable employee overall, then I'd go by policy and take the necessary action based on job tasks not being accomplished and not obeying policy.