How to Stop Excessive Absenteeism from Undermining Your Business

What should be included in a PTO plan?

When developing your PTO plan, you want to consider several factors. As I mentioned in the presentation, you need to think about accruals. Do employees get all PTO automatically on January 1st or do they earn PTO for every hour or week they work? Rollovers are another thing to consider. Can employees roll over PTO each year? If so, how much time can be rolled over? You also want to think about your part-time employees. Is PTO different for part-time employees? And finally, what happens when employment ends? Are employees paid for unused PTO?

What do I do if an employee goes over their available PTO?

At your discretion, you can provide the option of unpaid time off for employees who have used up all of their PTO. When granting unpaid leave, it’s important to be consistent. Also, you need to know the laws regarding exempt and non-exempt employees. For instance, generally, you can’t dock partial-day pay from exempt or salaried employees. You can deduct PTO hours but you can’t deduct partial-day pay.

What information should I include in a written warning for attendance policy violation?

There is no particular warning form or format that employers must use to document disciplinary problems. Regardless of the form used, a formal write-up addressing attendance issues should include the facts, such as when the violation occurred. You should spell out expectations for improvement, the disciplinary action being taken and consequences for failing to correct the problem. Finally, you should have signatures and dates on the document.

Can you establish a policy that states you have to work the day before and the day after a scheduled holiday off in order to be paid for the holiday?

The answer is generally yes - at least for non-exempt employees. Exempt employees may be a little trickier because they have to be paid their entire salary for any week they perform any work with limited exceptions. Its best to consult an employment law attorney or use attorney approved policies.

We have some salaried employees clock in but some not. can we do this? OR should it be all or nothing?

There is no rule that an exempt employee must clock in. Employers only need to keep time records for non-exempt employees so yes, you can have some exempt employees clock in if you want to but it is generally a best practice to treat employees the same when possible so that there is no appearance of favoritism, etc. So unless you have a legitimate reason for requiring some exempt employees to clock in and not others, such as you need it for billing purposes or something like that, then it would be best to require all exempt employees to clock in or don't require any exempt employees to clock in.

What is a good way to deal with an employee who is excessively absent or late due to anxiety?

This is a hard question to answer specifically because this should really be evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific circumstances of the company and the employee. One thing I would say here is that you want to make sure you are not required to engage in the interactive process under the ADA to evaluate whether reasonable accommodation may need to be made. I would recommend again, consulting with an employment law attorney to make sure you are complying with the ADA if applicable. If the ADA doesn't apply in this circumstance you can discipline the inappropriate conduct up to and including termination if the situation is warranted. Remember, most employment is at-will meaning employees can be fired or can quit at any time for any reason. You should have a conduct policy that establishes was is and is not acceptable conduct and make sure absenteeism and tardiness are covered. If it is, follow your policy and discipline accordingly. If you don't have a policy, create and distribute your policy to your employees. Make sure you are enforcing your policies and enforcing them consistently.