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USA Operations Centers Attendance Policy May 2017
All policies / supplements are subject to federal law, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and state and local laws affecting time off and will be administered in accordance with such laws.
These policies / supplements are subject to change without prior notification.
As this policy is reviewed, please refer to the State and Municipal Leaves Policy for exceptions.
The Attendance Policy sets forth the attendance expectations for designated employees for the purposes of maintaining outstanding customer service, productivity and positive employee morale.
Regular and reliable attendance is an important factor in employee productivity. A productive workforce ultimately serves the best interest of our customers and contributes to our long-term growth and success. Joyner values engaged employees who are at work and on time as expected in accordance with applicable law and who provide consistent, reliable customer service.
Excessive absenteeism and tardiness can adversely impact co-workers and challenges our company’s ability to meet established organizational goals and customer needs. Unscheduled absences, including late arrivals and early departures, otherwise not protected by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or other applicable laws, may be considered by management in evaluating performance and may lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment as provided in this policy or in accordance with other policies.
Designated Employees – the Attendance Policy shall apply to those non-exempt employees, both full time and part time, so designated by their department’s executive office, such as those subject to Workforce Management.
ATTENDANCE POLICY PROVISIONS
The Attendance Policy provides an occurrence-based approach to address unscheduled absences, tardiness, and early departures, using a rolling three-month period.
Unless an employee’s absence is approved in advance as required by the Attendance Policy, the employee is expected to report to work on time for each scheduled shift and to remain at work until the completion of the scheduled shift unless otherwise permitted by law. Each failure to do so shall result in an Occurrence. Unless the Occurrence is a Protected Absence (as defined below), it shall result in the assessment of points as provided under this policy. Disciplinary action under the Attendance Policy, up to and including termination, will be based on the number of points assessed over a rolling three-month period. Further or alternative disciplinary action may be based upon other Joyner employment policies.
Occurrence
An Occurrence is any Unscheduled Absence, Tardiness, or Early Departure, including any partial shift, full shift or group of consecutive workdays (string of uninterrupted partial shift and/or full shift Unscheduled Absences) that an employee is not at work during his or her scheduled work hours for any reason, excluding Protected Absences.
Unscheduled Absences with Protected Absences in the middle may be considered one or more Occurrences based on whether the Protected Absence falls in Group 1 or Group 2 (see Protected Absences definition below).
A consecutive Unscheduled Absence which includes Group 1 Protected Absences in the middle is considered one Occurrence.
A consecutive Unscheduled Absence which includes Group 2 Protected Absences in the middle is considered two or more separate Occurrences.
Full Shift
A full shift includes an employee’s assigned shift schedule. For purposes of this policy, each portion of a split shift constitutes a full shift.
Scheduled Absence
A Scheduled Absence is an absence from scheduled work hours submitted by the employee at least 24 hours in advance of the absence start time and approved by management or their designee. Employees are expected to schedule planned absences as far in advance as possible, unless otherwise provided by law.
Unscheduled Absence
An Unscheduled Absence is an absence from scheduled work hours, excluding Protected Absences, which was approved by management or their designee but not submitted by the employee at least 24 hours in advance of the absence start time. This may include absences for personal reasons or illnesses that are not Protected Absences.
Because some Unscheduled Absences may be unavoidable, up to two full-shift Occurrences in a rolling three-month period shall not be assessed attendance points, but will be tracked in the Attendance Grace Bank. Multiple Occurrences of Tardiness and/or Early Departure cannot be combined to equal a full-shift Unscheduled Absence.
Example: An employee’s first Unscheduled Absence for a full shift in a rolling three- month period due to the employee’s own sickness or to care for a sick family member that is not otherwise a Protected Absence, would not result in the assessment of points, but will be tracked in the Attendance Grace Bank.
Example: An employee’s second Unscheduled Absence for a full shift in a rolling three-month period due to unexpected circumstance such as basement flooding would not result in the assessment of points, but will be tracked in the Attendance Grace Bank.
Example: An Employee’s first partial shift Unscheduled Absence (i.e. tardy, early departure, excessive meal) in a rolling three-month period due to unexpected circumstances that are not otherwise Protected Absences, such as car trouble, would result in the assessment of points.
Tardiness
An incident of Tardiness is considered an Unscheduled Absence and will occur if an employee is more than five minutes late for the start of his or her scheduled work hours or is more than five minutes late returning from his or her meal period, provided the Tardiness is not a Protected Absence.
Incidents of tardiness can happen multiple times in an individual day.
Early Departure
An Early Departure is considered an Unscheduled Absence and occurs when the following three criteria are met:
Example: An employee requests to leave early due to a flooded basement. There is no department capacity, but the absence is approved. The absence is an Early Departure and, therefore an Unscheduled Absence.
Early Dismissal (Applicable for business areas with an established Early Dismissal process)
An Early Dismissal is not considered an Unscheduled Absence and occurs when the following two criteria are met:
Example: An employee requests to leave early due to a flooded basement, and the absence is approved based on department capacity. The absence is an Early Dismissal and, therefore, is not considered an Unscheduled Absence and shall not result in the assessment of points.
Early Dismissal can be coded as Early Dismissal-PTO or Early Dismissal-Unpaid. Early Dismissal - Unpaid may be used prior to exhausting PTO if the business area's philosophy on Early Dismissal usage guidelines allow it.
Protected Absences
A Protected Absence falls in one of the groups below and is an Unscheduled Absence, Tardiness or Early Departure that would otherwise be an Occurrence that is:
Group 1 – Protected by Law
Group 2 – Other absences protected under the Attendance Policy
Protected Absences (whether full-day or partial-day) shall not constitute Occurrences and shall not cause the assessment of points or result in any disciplinary action or adverse employment action.
Unauthorized Absences
An Unauthorized Absence, provided the absence is not protected by law, occurs when:
Unauthorized Absences on consecutive days are each considered a separate Unauthorized Absence.
Notification of Absence
Employees are expected to follow all departmental notification procedures. See Employee Actions section below.
Employees must notify their manager or designee of absences at least 24 hours prior to the start of their scheduled work hours, unless excused from doing so under federal, state or municipal law, such as an unforeseen absence under the FMLA.
Rolling ‘look back’ period
Unscheduled Absences, Tardiness, and Early Departures are reviewed on a rolling three-month period (points roll off at the end of the 90th calendar day). For example, if an employee has an Unscheduled Absence today, the ‘look back’ period is the three-month period that immediately precedes today’s date.
OCCURRENCES
Points assessed for each Unscheduled Absence, Tardiness, or Early Departure within a three-month rolling period including Unauthorized Absences.
Total attendance points for a consecutive absence (string of uninterrupted partial and/or full day Unscheduled Absences) should be assessed on the total hours not to exceed 1 point.
Employment Relationship
The Attendance Policy shall not affect employee’s at-will employment relationship. Either Joyner or employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without cause and with or without notice, regardless of the application of the Attendance Policy, including the assessment of points or any record of Occurrences.
Unless excused from doing so by federal, state or municipal law, employees must follow all departmental notification procedures, including whom and when to contact, to provide notice of:
Being late for work
Being absent from work
Needing time away from work
Notification should be provided by the employee whenever possible, by another individual on the employee’s behalf (such as a family member) or by such other persons as may be permitted by law, when he or she is unable to do so himself/herself.
At the time of notification/call, an employee should advise his or her manager if he or she believes the absence is a protected absence under the FMLA or similar
The information below reflects disciplinary action under the Attendance Policy. Further disciplinary action, including but not limited to termination, may result from performance, misconduct or other circumstances. Management, with consultation from Human Resources as needed, will decide the appropriate level of disciplinary action in each circumstance. This attendance policy sets attendance expectations. Regular attendance is an important factor in employee productivity. Excessive absenteeism and tardiness adversely impacts co-workers ability to meet organizational goals and ability to meet customers needs.