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EMPLOYMENT LAW BULLETIN
Vol. 05, No. 2
Courtesy of ESKRIDGE LAW
Are you facing numerous last-minute absences from your employees that are affecting your “bottom line?” According to a recent unscheduled absence survey, last-minute absences are at a five-year high. In 2004, unscheduled absences rose to 2.4% of total paid productive hours, up 1.9% from last year. These unscheduled absences cost employers about $610 per employee annually.
So what can you do to curb the number of unscheduled absences at your place of employment? Here are several helpful ways to alleviate the problem of absenteeism.
- Flexible scheduling: Depending on the amount of flexibility you have at your workplace, consider scheduling work functions around employee needs. For example, if you have employees who have young children with early morning commitments, schedule work meetings later in the day so that they are able to attend the meetings.
- Communicate with your employees: As simple as this may seem, communicating with your employees about attendance can help to reduce absenteeism. Explain to your employees that you will try to help them out when they need time off, but that they need to be honest when requesting this time off. Encouraging this open communication between you and the employee will help facilitate workplace morale and at the same time discourage excessive absenteeism.
- Attendance bonuses: If possible, consider a “reward” system where employees with perfect attendance are paid bonuses.
However, if such a system is in place, note that an employee can’t be legally disqualified from getting this bonus if time is taken off for family leave.
- Paid Time Off (PTO) Plans: PTO plans give employees a lump sum of paid days off rather than a set number of days each for vacation, holidays, and sick leave. With these plans, employees control their leave without having to lie to employers. These plans typically require advance notice of time off from the employees which is also helpful to the employer.
If this is a plan that you want to implement, remember that California law requires any accrued leave remaining in their PTO account to be paid when employment ends. Also, although a “use it or lose it” policy is illegal, you can set a cap on how many days an employee can keep in a PTO account.
- No-fault policies: No-fault policies track unplanned time off, paid or unpaid, without making a value judgment about the reason for the absence. After accumulating a certain a number of points, an employee is terminated or disciplined. Note that like attendance bonuses, leave taken under the family and medical leave laws can’t be used against an employee in a no-fault system.
ESKRIDGE LAW may be contacted by phone (310/792-7021), by fax (310/792-7022) or by e-mail (geskridge@eskridgelaw.net.) Please visit our website at eskridgelaw.net or employmentattorneys.net.
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