Human Resources Policies
| Title: Attendance |
| Effective Date: December 31, 2017
Reviewed Date: 09/30/2020 Revised Date: 09/30/2020 |
POLICY
Maintaining a stable and reliable work force is critical to the effective and efficient delivery of medical transportation services. Excessive tardiness and absenteeism negatively affect patient care, the quality of service, and employee morale and is therefore unacceptable.
PURPOSE
To set forth standards of appropriate attendance and notification of absence and establish corrective action standards for unacceptable attendance.
DEFINITIONS
| Description | Infraction Points |
| A. Unplanned Absence/No Call – An unplanned absence/No Call occurs when an employee fails to provide notification of an absence or provides notification at or after two (2) hours of the scheduled shift start time. The employee is not entitled to be paid for the shift. | 4 |
| B. Unplanned Absence/Late Call – An unplanned absence/Late Call results when an employee fails to provide timely notification of an absence according to established division/departmental standards. In situations when an employee is arriving to work excessively late, the employee may, at the discretion of the supervisor, be allowed to work or may be sent home. | 3 |
| C. Unplanned Absence Day – An unplanned Absence occurs when an employee fails to work as scheduled (i.e., calling off due to illness, injury, or other personal reasons not covered under protective leave of absence circumstances). Employees will be required to use accrued vacation time to be paid for the absence. | 2 |
| D. Excused Absence – An excused absence occurs when a) an employee has received permission, two (2) weeks in advance from their Manager to not work the scheduled shift; or, b) the absence is covered by protected leave of absence circumstances. | 0 |
| E. Protected Leave of Absence – An employee may qualify for a protected leave of absence based on the circumstances. Examples would be: FMLA, Military Leave, ADA, Jury Duty or court cases. Consult the Employee Handbook and Human Resources for qualifying criteria. | 0 |
| F. Failure to Clock Out – Failure to clock in/out occurs when a biweekly employee fails to record daily time worked (excluding clocking which occurs for breaks and meal periods) using the department’s normal timekeeping system. | .50 |
| G. Early Clock In/Late Clock Out – Early clock in occurs when an employee clocks in more than thirty (30) minutes before the start of the scheduled shift without supervisory approval. Late clock out occurs when an employee clocks out more than seven (7) minutes after the end of the scheduled shift without supervisory approval. Road crew employees are exempt from the Late Clock Out rule when clocking out late due to business operations. However, road crew employees are expected to complete end of shift responsibilities within 20 minutes of return to base and clock out. | .50 |
| H. Tardy – Tardy is considered eight (8) up to fifteen (15) minutes minute past start of shift | .50 |
| I. Excessive Lateness – an employee is considered excessively late when arriving more than fifteen (15) minutes past start of shift up sixty (60) minutes. Arriving late to work more than two (2) hours will be considered an “Unplanned Absence/Late Call” and infraction points will be assigned accordingly (see above). | 1 |
| J. Unexcused Left Early – A left early applies when an employee, at his/her own request, leaves work early unexpectedly when there is need for the employee to continue working. When an employee leaves early at his/her own request, with more than 50% of their scheduled shift it will be considered an “Unplanned Absence/Late Call” and infraction points will be assigned accordingly (see above). | 1 |
| K. Scheduled Shift – A scheduled shift is any shift which an employee has agreed to, or has been assigned to work including regular, overtime or holiday shifts. | n/a |
| L. Rolling Six-month Period – Rolling six-month period is defined as the 6-month period immediately preceding the most recent chargeable attendance infraction. A rolling six-month period may be extended to exclude any period of absence for which an employee received a medical, personal, military or other qualifying protected leave of absence situation. | n/a |
PROCEDURE AND GUIDELINES
Supervisors should notify employees of their starting, ending, and break times. Employees are expected to be engaged in carrying out their duties during all scheduled work time and should be ready to begin working at their scheduled starting time.
Supervisors should record all absences and, for nonexempt (hourly) employees any tardiness or early departure.
Employees generally are expected to report for work during inclement weather conditions if the Company does not declare an emergency closing.
Nonexempt (hourly) employees will not be required or permitted to work any period of time before or after scheduled starting or quitting times for the purpose of making up time lost because of tardiness, unauthorized absence, authorized absence, or any other reason if the result will be that the employee works more than 40 hours during the work week.
Employees must report to their supervisor after being late or absent, give an explanation of the circumstances surrounding their tardiness or absence, and, when applicable, certify that they are fit to return to work. Any deviation from scheduled times must be recorded by the employee in the timekeeping system. The supervisor should record the information and forward it to the Human Resources Department to be included in the employee’s file. When appropriate, the supervisor should counsel the employee on the importance of good attendance and warn that excessive tardiness or absences will lead to discipline, up to and including termination.
Employees must obtain permission in order to leave the company premises during working hours. Road crew employees must obtain permission from a Dispatcher and all other employees from their supervisor. In addition, employees who are frequently away from the premises for business reasons should inform their supervisor(s) of their whereabouts during working hours.
- Clocking in/out procedures:
All nonexempt (hourly) employees are required to clock in at the beginning of their shift and clock out at the end of their shift.
Employees are not permitted to clock in 30 minutes prior to the scheduled shift start without advance permission from their supervisor.
Corrective action for failure to clock in/out according to established procedures will result in accumulation of infraction points in accordance with this policy and corrective action.
- Notification of Absence
If unable to work as scheduled, all road crew employees must speak with a Dispatcher a minimum of two (2) hours prior to the start of their scheduled shift and then notify their manager. All other employees are required to notify their department manager in accordance with established standards. The notification requirement may be waived only when extraordinary circumstances exist which prevent a timely call-in.
Failure to fulfill the notification requirement will result in disciplinary action and, when eligible, the employee may be denied use of PTO benefit time to which the employee may otherwise be entitled.
Unscheduled absences due to injury or illness, even when following appropriate guidelines, may still be deemed excessive. It is the responsibility of the employee’s immediate supervisor to monitor and maintain a record of attendance. If an employee has an attendance problem, i.e., excessive lateness, absence, or a combination of both, the problem would be discussed with the employee as soon as it is noted.
A doctor’s note is required when an employee is absent for three (3) consecutive days.
- Corrective action guidelines for attendance infractions are as follows:
Violations of the attendance standards will result in the issuance of points to the schedule listed below:
| Points | Infraction Type |
| 4 | Unplanned Absence/No Call |
| 3 | Unplanned Absence/Late Call |
| 2 | Unplanned Absence Day |
| .5 | Failure to Clock Out |
| .5 | Early Clock In/Late Clock Out |
| .5 | Tardy (8 to 15 minutes) |
| 1 | Excessive Lateness |
| 1 | Left Early |
Corrective action should be issued to a full-time employee when he/she has reached 8 chargeable points in a rolling six-month period, to a part-time employee when he/she has reached 6 chargeable points in a rolling six-month period.
| Schedule for Maximum Allowable Points Resulting in Corrective Action | |
| Rolling six months | |
| Full-time Employees (working an average of 30+ hours per week | 8 |
| Part-time Employees (working less than 30 hours per week) | 6 |
An absence of several consecutive days is considered one (1) occurrence when the employee has provided timely notification to the supervisor prior to each absent day. Based on the employee’s past attendance record, and information resulting from the discussion, the supervisor will take appropriate action. If a problem is defined, disciplinary action should be taken.
Employees scheduled to work overtime or who voluntarily accept overtime, holiday or special event assignments will be subject to the provisions of this policy.
Absences (full or partial) occurring in conjunction with an approved FMLA leave, leave required under the ADA, or Military Leave are not chargeable occurrences.
Patterns of abuse: We define patterns of abuse as frequent, predictable and observable employee action that repeats itself. Patterns of abuse will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Regardless of chargeable points, the following corrective action process will apply to “no call/no show” absent days:
- One absent day (no call) – Written warning
- Two consecutive absent days (no call) – Suspension for three days (or 24 hours) without pay
- Three consecutive absent days (no call) – Termination (voluntary abandonment of the job)
EXAMPLES:
| Date of Infraction | Points |
| November 15 – Unplanned Absence | 2 |
| December 15 – Tardy | .5 |
| December 19 – Failure to Clock Out | .5 |
| December 27 – Unplanned Absence/Late Call | 3 |
| March 2 – Unplanned Absence | 2 |
| March 3 – Corrective Action Issued | 8 |
|
Note: Do not charge any points towards another corrective action once the points are charged to a corrective action.
|
|
|
Prorating Schedule Begins |
Points |
| April 13 – Unplanned Absence | 2 |
| July 1 – Left Early | 1 |
| August 1 – Unplanned Absence/Late Call | 3 |
| August 2 – Corrective Action Issued | 6 |