EVIL HR LADY
DILEMMA OF THE MONTH
Why Attendance Policies Are so Important
BY Suzanne Lucas
ILLUSTRATION : JOHN CHASE
I have a problem with employees calling in to say they are not coming into work once they ’ ve reached 40 hours . We have a lot of overtime available , so it ’ s easy to have worked 40 hours by Thursday . People then call to say they are not coming in on Friday and don ’ t want to use their paid time off to cover the time , since they ’ re already getting paid for 40 hours ( plus more , because of California overtime laws ). It ’ s really causing problems with scheduling . What can I do ?
Say no . Honestly , it ’ s that simple . You need to have an attendance policy and enforce it , especially with so many employees now working remotely .
I understand what happened here . You want to be kind , and it makes sense to be accommodating . After all , you would have to pay overtime for the entire time they worked that last day , so maybe it made sense at one point to allow people not to work once they reached 40 hours — without docking their PTO .
But you are within your rights as an employer to set an absentee policy that makes sense for your business . You need work done , and that ’ s why you hire employees . This does not mean that your employees should devote their entire lives to your business , nor does it mean you let them walk all over you . When you ’ re talking about attendance , you need a good policy .
Here ’ s what that could look like .
1 PTO should consist of at least two buckets : sick leave and vacation time .
2 Sick leave can be taken without notice . Vacation time needs advance approval .
3 If an employee has used all their sick
16 comstocksmag . com | October 2020