While, on one hand, generosity with affording sick leave time is a good business practice (after all, a healthy workforce is a productive workforce), on the other hand, unanticipated call-offs can be costly and disruptive to an organization, particularly when certain employees are chronically absent.
In our experience, chronic absenteeism has a direct impact on employee morale and productivity, which will ultimately impact the success of your business.
If you are experiencing frequent call offs and lateness, you may want to consider the following:
- Is there a clear attendance policy that is being followed by management?
One of the main causes of employee absenteeism or lateness is inconsistency in how the employer addresses these problems. We recommend you have a clear attendance policy that is equally and consistently applied to all. After all, not only does inconsistency breed a disregarding attitude among employees, it also may expose your business to a discrimination lawsuit, depending on the circumstances. If you are seeing chronic attendance or lateness issues, your attendance policy probably is ripe for review.
- Do you have reasonable expectations?
It is reasonable and appropriate to direct employees to provide a doctor’s note after a period of consecutive absences. However, the request should not be prohibitive to legitimately sick employees taking consecutive days off to recover. Having a sick employee come to work to avoid the costs associated with getting a doctor’s note risks the spread of disease to other employees. You may want to consider giving an employee three days of absence before a doctor’s note is due. This may make the difference between an employee with a cold or the flu deciding to recover at home, as opposed to coming to work.
Also, with respect to lateness, it may be a good idea to utilize rounding, in accordance with the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). This establishes more reasonable expectations for timeliness that would be beneficial to the employee and the employer. Especially where you have employees who use public transportation, there may be times where employees are legitimately behind schedule. Rounding the hours worked, in compliance with the FLSA’s regulations, could set more reasonable expectations.
- Does your office have a morale problem that could be causing absenteeism?
As the employer, you may not be aware of personal issues that can occur during the workday. For example, while workplace bullying may seem somewhat petty to you, for those involved, bullying can rise to the level of traumatic, particularly when one employee is singled out from the group. If you have reason to believe that an employee could be the victim of bullying, even if the target has not complained of a bullying incident, it is important to conduct a thorough investigation. Certain types of bullying could result in legal liability for an employer, in addition to the real financial consequence of poor workplace morale, including chronic absenteeism or lateness by the person being victimized.
Employee absenteeism and lateness is costly and the consequences can be far reaching. A skilled employment attorney can work with you to revise your policies and train managers for consistency in the implementation of your policies.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Employment Log (EPELog) is a publication of the KingSpry Employment Law Practice Group. Jeffrey T. Tucker, Esquire, is our editor-in-chief. EPELog is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
