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Abuse of Sick Leave

We have one guy (out of a staff of nine) who is really abusing our personal day/sick day policy. He typically takes 1-2 sick days per month, and nobody really believes he is sick. Once he has exhausted his personal days, he moves on to using his vacation days. Since we are a small agency, we end up hiring freelancers to pick up the slack and it generally causes a lot of difficulty. Otherwise, he is a very good employee. Technically, he's not doing anything wrong. Currently, we don't require a doctor's note when people are sick. We would like to require this employee only to bring in a doctor's note when he's sick, but we really don't want to make it a company-wide policy. Has anyone dealt with a situation like this? I don't want to do anything unfair or illegal, but we feel he is abusing the policy. Do you think that if we verbally request the doctor's note (but don't put it in writing), it would fly?

Catherine Colangelo
Business Manager
The Phillips Agency

A couple of years ago we did away with the distinction between sick time and vacation time. We now use PTO (paid time off) to account for any paid time out of the office. Each employee is given a set number of hours per year. If they use up all of this time, they are left with the option of taking time without pay or coming to work. This method simplifies the record keeping and gives the employee an incentive to stay well. If your employee were to use all of his time up "being sick" then he will not have any days left for vacation.

Shannon Asquith
Business Manager
Tackett Barbaria Design Group

We too have had abuses of personal time (sick, personal whatever you would cal it). We have since worked with our ASO (Administrative Service Organization) which happens to be a division of PAYCHEX regarding this issue. There are very clear laws in each state regarding what can and cannot be done. The answer would depend on your state laws and wether or not the employee was exempt. I can tell you, based on what I've learned about this type of situation in general are the following;

” Have a very clear policy...make it part of an employee handbook and have everyone sign that they received it and understand that they are responsible to read it (those words exactly...it's important)

” adopt a sick policy if you are going to give sick time (which may or may not be required in your state). We give 1.25 days per month after each employee reaches 90 days and the first of the next month. This is for whatever they need it to be for. (We found this better than always feeling certain people took advantage of the sick policy)

” You should also create job functions for each position..explain as part of the position that the person is required to be reliable and meet deadlines for example. If this person is always calling in sick...he/she cannot very well be reliable and meet deadlines...this then becomes a performance issue.

” Everyone MUST be treated the same...for example, you cannot ask one person for a doctor's note and not others...it could become a liability regarding some sort of discrimination...unfortunately, if you choose to go this route you will have to make a policy and ask all for doctor's notes.

Since we changed the way we give time off, we don't even want to know why they are taking time...it is simply a matter of qualifying for paid time off. If someone goes over the allotment, it is an attendance issue...which keeps it simple...

Caitilin Ashley
Ashley & Associates

If you d on't say anything, he won't know how you feel. Plus, he'll asume all is fine util he hears otherwise. Just talk to him - when you're not feeling upset. And, yes, we've experienced the same thing and if you have the rules laid out in your handbook, you shouldn't give special treatment to someone who dares to push it.

Jo Bos
HR Manager
Gerry Bos Design, Inc.

First, decide what your ultimate goal is. Do you want to reform the guy? Or do you want to get rid of him? You really need to be doing personnel evaluations on a regular basis. Yech, we all hate them (when we get around to doing them), but this is exactly what they're for. Excessive absenteeism can be noted as part of the review and followed up in between with warnings as appropriate. And up to 24 days of sick leave a year is excessive in the absence of a major illness. Do you have a maximum amount? I'd certainly put one in if you don't. We also require vacations to be approved in advance by a supervisor. We don't care if they're only for one day, we just want the notice to avoid the issue that happened about a month after I got here -- the whole design staff had vacations scheduled in August and no one had compared notes. It would be perfectly legal to require notification, say, two weeks in advance, preventing the "it's a nice day at the beach" syndrome. If you're trying to get rid of him, I'd recommend contacting a labor attorney (an *employer's* labor attorney) to be sure you are on the right side of things. We also carry EPLI insurance just in case something like this comes up. Also think about whether or not this is an employee who just doesn't understand the difficulties he's causing. Maybe he just needs it explained to him. But if the attitude is "You give me the time off and I'm going to take it no matter how disruptive it is, nyah, nyah" then I'd say the attitude is set in stone and you're going to have to work toward termination. Hopefully you have an at-will clause in your personnel handbook. I think this is probably stronger in Texas than here in California. It should, in theory, cover you, but if you're going to depend on it then it really would be beneficial to pay for a hour's time with your attorney first. I'm not in favor of the doctor excuse for a one-day absence. If somebody really has a bad cold or 24-hr flu, who bothers going to the doctor? Heck, half the time you can't even get away from the bathroom for long enough (sorry.) But IF you could enforce this just on him (attorney again), it might be a good way to stop the problem.

Brent A. Byrd
Point Zero, Inc.

We use a "pto" (paid time off policy). Employees get a total amount of days for time off. These pto days are to be used for: vacation, sickness, personal or whatever. It is up to the employee to manage their "bucket" of time. When he/she exhausts his pto time, all remaining days taken are unpaid. If the employee is out due to disability, then short-term disability insurance would begin. If an employee is fired, he/she is not paid for any unused pto time. Also, up to a week of unused pto time can be accrued and used in the following year; however, accrued pto time must be used within 3 mos. of the new year. Employees do not get the option of payment for unused pto time either. For doctor appointments, employees can either take 1/2 day pto or work less than 7 hours the day of the appointment, but then are expected to make up the hours lost for the appointment within a week. We found that employees need more personal days than sick days, so this pto system works. To determine total pto days: if a person gets 2 weeks "normal" vacation, we add 6 days extra. Thus, the employee would have a total of 16 days pto. This total would be prorated for new employees that started anytime after January.

Anna Parisi
GBL, Inc.

If he isn't technically doing anything wrong then why are you asking a user group for advice? If his abuse of your company's sick policy creates the need to hire temporary freelance help (at an expense, I might add) then he most certainly is a problem. I'm not sure just what it takes to be "a very good employee"; however, calling in sick twice a month doesn't impress me. When is his next review due? Then (if not sooner) would be an ideal time to discuss the company's policy on sick time.

Jim Belanger
The VIA Group LLC

First of all, I don't think you can ask for a doctor's excuse unless you have it in your employee handbook. Here is my suggestion, change your vacation policy to say that vacation days can only be used for scheduled time off and should be taken in week-long increments. You can add a stipulation that vacation days not scheduled in week-long increments will need to be approved prior to time off. This will give you leeway for non-abusers of the policy and discourage the abuser. Inform the abuser that time taken beyond the allotted sick/personal hours will result in a deduction to their paycheck. Unfortunately, you will have to stick to this for all employees, even the ones who have legitimate reasons.

Belinda M. Wilson
Director of Finance/Operations
Fitting Group

Due to the history and pattern of your employees absences I think it is warranted and good employment practice to require him for the next 6 months to bring in doctors statements for each absence. This would be especially warranted if you have had oral counseling sessions regarding this with him. I know factually that this practice would not break any employment or labor laws.

Mike Thomas CPA
CFO
Fuse Advertising Inc.

What is your Company policy on sick days, personal days and vacation time? If you don't have one, you should put one together immediately, distribute it along with a memo for all employees to sign, acknowledging that they understand that they are responsible for the information contained in it. You cannot single out an employee as an exception to a rule or policy. You may want to discuss it with the employee in a review setting and note that there is room for improvement. That, along with a Policy, will give you a mutually understood expectation, and basis for reprimand, should it come to that.

Ann Marie Tullo
Financial Coordinator

Several people here have mentioned using a PTO policy rather than vacation/sick pay. I'd just like to remind those of you in California that if you use a PTO policy you automatically vest all (former) sick pay -- i.e., the whole schmear is legally treated as if it were vacation. You cannot cancel any part of it at the end of the year and you have to pay out any unused PTO when the person terminates (for any reason).

Brent A. Byrd
Point Zero, Inc.

First of all, I'm so sorry to late respond. We are a small company as well, each calendar year we have 1/2 accrued sick day per month, 2 personal days a year and birthday off. You must accrue your sick time before taking it. For example, in March of each year, an employee only has 1.5 days of sick to take. Now, if they want to use up their personal time, then so be it. But once the accrued sick time and personal time has been used, then he or she will get a deduct in pay. I believe once you hit his pocket book, he will re-evaluate his off day requests.

Felica S. Henry
Benton Newton & Partners