HR Manager

mdeshon · August 2012

Hello,
I am wondering if there is any loophole or issue allowing employees on their birthdays to go home half day or be off all day? Obviously pay rates and job duties vary and would want to be fair to all. Any advice? Thanks

sonny · August 2012

I assume you do not have a union contract? Birthdays are often a topic of negotiation.
If you do this, I would have a policy and apply it consistently. Do they have to take it the day OF their birthday? What if their birthday falls on a weekend? etc.
Assume it will be paid leave? Only applies to non-exempts?
If you cover all your bases, I don't see a problem with it.

Still Need Coffee · August 2012

This would purely be the company's decision. As sonny mentioned, just make sure you apply it uniformly.

At our company, we give employees a "floating holiday" to be used on their birthday. They can use it on the day of or a day near (if birthday falls on weekend or holiday), or, with supervisor approval, they can use it on a completely unrelated day.

Oddly enough, we get a lot of feedback from our employees that this is one of their favorite benefits!

ACU Frank · August 2012

I recommend giving people a window to use the time - for example, they can schedule it up to 7 days before their actual birthday or up to 7 days after.

For added peace of mind, at least think through the inevitability of having someone take their "birthday" time 7 days prior to the actual birthday, then quitting the day before their birthday. Will you still pay them for it?

Nevada HR · August 2012

We pay for the birthday off for the actual day or any day thereafter, but it must be taken by the end of the calendar year. Works great for a March birthday...not as great for a December birthday, but still a nice benefit.

Sharon McKnight SPHR · August 2012

[quote=mdeshon;724414]Hello,
I am wondering if there is any loophole or issue allowing employees on their birthdays to go home half day or be off all day? Obviously pay rates and job duties vary and would want to be fair to all. Any advice? Thanks[/quote]

Your first post! Welcome to the Forum. :welcome:

Sharon

Cheryl S SPHR · August 2012

We did this at a former employer I worked for. We asked employees to take their birthday off within one week on either side. In our timekeeping system, we had a special code so this was not counted as hours worked for OT purposes. It was a nice little benefit but we got the birthday off ONLY if we had 100% participation in United Way. It was our incentive to get everyone to contribute (no minimum required).

Sharon McKnight SPHR · September 2012

[quote=Cheryl S SPHR;724438]We did this at a former employer I worked for. We asked employees to take their birthday off within one week on either side. In our timekeeping system, we had a special code so this was not counted as hours worked for OT purposes. It was a nice little benefit but we got the birthday off ONLY if we had 100% participation in United Way. It was our incentive to get everyone to contribute (no minimum required).[/quote]

Cheryl,

Did the "no minimum required" mean they just had to submit the form, even with a zero donation, to participate in the campaign?

Sharon

Cheryl S SPHR · September 2012

I never had that happen! People would either make a monthly contribution through payroll deduction or a one-time contribution. We did not require any certain amount.

HR Manager

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