EVIL HR LADY
DILEMMA OF THE MONTH
How Can I Get My Employees to Take Sick Leave and Paid Time Off ?
BY Suzanne Lucas
ILLUSTRATION : JOHN CHASE
We have sick leave and paid time off , but our employees never schedule PTO and never call in sick . We always remind them to take PTO , and they sometimes do but not very often . We ’ re struggling to figure out how to say it ’ s OK for our employees to use their sick leave . We don ’ t have a policy requesting a doctor ’ s note . Please advise .
I was hoping that COVID-19 would have taught people that it ’ s OK to stay home when they are sick . But I suspect I know what your problems are , and I know how to fix them . There are two leading possibilities . We ’ ll start with the easiest one to fix .
Problem 1
You allow people to accrue unlimited amounts of vacation and pay it out when they quit .
California law requires that you pay out earned vacation time when someone quits or is terminated . But it doesn ’ t require you to allow them to accrue vacation forever . You can set maximum amounts of accrual .
If this is your policy , change it today to allow people to accrue up to a reasonable amount of vacation ( four weeks , for example ), and then they can ’ t gain any more until they ’ ve used it . This method has two significant advantages . People take their PTO time when they are sick or need a break , and you get rid of the considerable vacation liability on the books .
Now , you cannot take away what people have accrued , but you can
18 comstocksmag . com | August 2021