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What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
Benefits & Compensation
What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
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Let me preface this by saying, I am embarrassed to even be asking this question, but I am having a hard time convincing a director that an employee's behavior does not constitute abuse of sick leave;
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
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What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/16/2012 2:39 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 2
First: 4/16/2012 Last: 4/20/2012 |
Let me preface this by saying, I am embarrassed to even be asking this question, but I am having a hard time convincing a director that an employee's behavior does not constitute abuse of sick leave; I have been asked for documentation of standards or guidelines that qualify as sick leave abuse. So... Does anyone have a formal standard of what qualifies as sick leave abuse, such as the following examples? "no more than 40% of the days can be on the same day of the week" "absences can't be on the same day of the week for five consecutive absences" "no more than half the absences can be during the first week of the month" or anything similar to this?
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/16/2012 5:18 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 148
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/10/2012 |
I'm not sure what you're trying to get at here; specifically, what is the employee's behavior that is raising this issue. Moreover, I'm not sure what kind of sick leave policy you have in place. Many organizations have traditionally limited sick leave to 5 days per year. If you're on a PTO system with combined sick and vacation accruals, then you could use a limit of 5 unexcused absences per year (even though a person might be paid for the time off, it can still be an unexcused absence). After 5 unexcused absences or sick days per year, then your absenteeism policy should kick in and discipline applied in accordance with that. This is assuming, of course, that your employee does not qualify for or could make a case for either ADA protection or FMLA. |
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/18/2012 8:33 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 127
First: 9/21/2011 Last: 11/12/2012 |
To me, our guidelines are a consistent pattern of use -- that is enough that it was noticable....And even then I would sit down and discuss with the employee that it was noticed and ask WHY this is happening. For example, we have some employees that have to be at work at 4 am. Most often they miss a morning for oversleeping and will state that instead they were sick because they feel like the discipline will or should be less. Our policy is pretty much a 3 strikes, you are out....especailly if all three of those were on a monday morning with NO notice. It would not be as much of an issue if the employee called the night manager on duty the night before about not feeling well. But every employer's policy will be different. Some require a doctor's note for any sick day (which I think is going overboard plus you can print a dr's note fraudulently from the 'net). And like Nork stated, you need to be very careful on possible ADA/FMLA issues. The employer needs to know why the employee is calling in sick and documenting it. Now employees don't tend to want to be forthcoming with information, but it has to happen. |
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/19/2012 2:50 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 148
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?: Sick leave abuse occurs when, and only when, no medical doctor affirms in writing that the employee is/was sick. Posted by ewilliams4 Nonsense. |
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/20/2012 6:34 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 2
First: 4/16/2012 Last: 4/20/2012 |
In response to Nork4, we are not on a PTO system, but here is what I am trying to get at: As rrupert said "our guidelines are a consistent pattern of use -- that is enough that it was noticeable." My question is if anyone has any specific guidelines about when the leave becomes a pattern; about what qualifies as "consistent pattern of use." For example, if an employee's use of sick leave consists of being sick twice over the course of a couple months and both times, the employee calls in sick on a Monday, it probably is not a pattern that needs to be addressed; but if the employee's use of sick leave entails eleven absences and every one is a Monday, that is a pattern. My question is whether anyone has guidelines about what qualifies as a pattern - at what point the sick leave crosses the line and becomes a pattern. I realize this is an odd question, but a high level manager has told me he wants me to help him address an "employee's pattern of sick leave" because over the course of a few months the employee has been out sick 8 days and 3 of those days were on a Tuesday. Therefore he believes there is a pattern to the employee's use of sick leave. I did my best to explain that if all eight days were on a Tuesday or at least 7 of the 8 were on a Tuesday, there would be a pattern, but three of the eight days doesn't even cause me to look twice.
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/23/2012 8:56 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 127
First: 9/21/2011 Last: 11/12/2012 |
Just a little more brainstorming.... Usually the abuse on the same day of the week tends to be Monday or Friday to get to a long weekend. I haven't ever seen anyone abuse a Tuesday. And 3 in 8 isn't really a pattern, I agree. If anything, the pattern is more 8 days in a couple of months than 3 Tuesdays. Unless there is something going on with the employee on Monday evenings, I don't see a pattern. As for a real line? That's a hard one, because every situation and set of details will be different. For example, suppose you know the employee works the Monday overnight shift at a warehouse and fails to make it to work on Tuesday those three times. Then you have an idea on why he is taking the sick time -- because he is too tired to work both jobs, especially if he partied all weekend. And it becomes a pattern especially if the other days missed were also after he worked another overnight shift at his other job. All I can suggest is writing up some examples where a pattern of abuse is obvious and others (like this one) where it is not. And show that one little detail could change the answer. Unfortunately there is no easy way to define abuse. What I tell my managers is to run the situation by HR prior to disciplining/terminating the employee. Usually between the manager and I we can sort it out. Some end up being abuse and others do not. But it's better than just the manager making the call. (But I have ADA and FMLA to deal with and while I train my managers, I don't want them to take sole responsibility for the decisions) Other things to look at : (1) Is the employee using the correct call in/notification procedure? Are they call the manager or a co-worker? Those that abuse often call in to someone other than the direct supervisor so that the direct supervisor can't ask questions. (2) Are there other behaviors that show or imply possible employee abuse of policies? Say forgetting to use the timeclock which can also hide what time an employee started or stopped work. I've had employees do this because they were late or left early but didn't want anyone to know. It's a red flag! |
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/23/2012 11:12 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 148
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/10/2012 |
Matthew: |
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Re: What Constitutes sick leave abuse?
posted at 4/24/2012 1:38 PM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 1
First: 4/24/2012 Last: 4/24/2012 |
Personally, I would be concerned about locking yourself into too much of a "documented pattern of abuse" policy, because then you take a chance that an employee will find a way to get around THAT. What if you state the consistent Monday/Friday abuse, now you're just asking for employees to take off every Tuesday/Wednesday. There is something to be said for TOO much documentation. I would document in your abuse policy something to the effect that observed patterns of abuse will be dealt with on a case by case basis and leave it at that. You don't want to leave yourself too open by not addressing it, but you don't want to back yourself into a corner either. Just my opinion... |
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