THE METROHEALTH SYSTEM POLICIES Attendance Standards POLICY No: II-34. Original Date: January, Policy Owner(s): Human Resources

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1 POLICY No: II-34 Originated By: Human Resources Original Date: January, 1996 Policy Owner(s): Human Resources Last Review Date: September 2012 Last Revised Date: January 1996 November 2009 February 2000 December 2009 April 2003 November 2012 Approval: President and Chief Executive Officer or Designee Policy Committee (Signatures on file) October 2007 February 2013 October 2009 July 2013 I. POLICY: The MetroHealth System (MHS) attendance standards have been established to ensure consistent staffing levels and monitor absenteeism and tardiness of its employees to promote quality patient care. II. III. IV. PURPOSE: To provide guidelines and expectations surrounding employee time and attendance. Every employee of the Hospital plays an important role in providing exemplary patient care. SCOPE: The MetroHealth System DEFINITIONS: A. Absence: Any period of time an employee does not report to work for a shift, regardless of whether timely notification is received. (Attachment A) B. Tardy: Any instance an employee is not present at the assigned work station at the start of their shift. (See Attachment B) 1. Incidents less than one (1) hour will be considered a tardy incident. (See Attachment B) 2. Occurrences of one (1) hour or more will be considered an absence and assigned attendance points. 3. The six (6) minutes that are not deducted from paychecks are due to a payroll process and do not serve as a grace period for being tardy. 1

2 C. Full-time Employees: Any position budgeted to work hours bi-weekly. D. Part-time Employees. Any position budgeted to work less than 60 hours biweekly. E. Sick Time: Leave time designated and limited to a bona fide illness as outlined in policy II-20 Leaves of Absence. F. Patterned Absences: A history of intermittent and/or frequent absences that demonstrates a pattern. Pattern absenteeism may involve a single occurrence of abuse as in the case of an employee being denied a request for paid or unpaid time off work and subsequently reporting off for the same day due to illness. (See section VII. F) G. Pandemic illness: A widespread disease outbreak for which people have little or no immunity as designated by the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. H. Rolling Twelve (12) Months: A period of 12 consecutive months (365 days) of active employment, which has been extended for non-vacation leaves of more than 7 consecutive days. I. Shift: Hours in a day for which an employee is scheduled to work, including regular, reassigned, overtime and holiday shift. This also includes any shifts an employee voluntarily accepts and/or requests. V. RESPONSIBILITIES: A. Employees are responsible for understanding and adhering to this policy in order to maintain a stable and reliable workforce required to provide exemplary patient care. B. Supervisors are expected to fairly and consistently manage employees attendance records in order to maintain a stable and reliable workforce required to provide exemplary patient care. Attendance and tardiness tracking forms are available to assist supervision in monitoring this policy (See Attachments C and D). VI. GUIDELINES: A. Attendance points will be monitored weekly by the immediate supervisor based on total work hours missed during the preceding twelve (12) months of active employment. B. All occurrences of absenteeism are considered under this policy with the exception of the following: 1. Vacation; 2

3 2. Approved holidays; 3. Approved leaves of absence (e.g. medical, maternity, FMLA, etc.); 4. Jury duty; 5. Approved funeral leave (including any approved extension); 6. Workers compensation; 7. Other work-related injuries or illness will be dealt with on a case-bycase basis. (See Attachment E). C. Employees attendance points drop off based on a rolling 12 months. Attendance points will be deleted in the order they were received (i.e., the oldest points are deleted first corresponding to the earliest dates for which attendance points were received). 1. Non-vacation leaves, including FMLA, greater than seven (7) consecutive days or more, do not count toward the rolling twelve month period. In such cases, the rolling year will be extended beyond the twelve (12) months by the amount of time missed in excess of seven consecutive days. D. Second Final Written Warning: An employee who receives a second final written warning for attendance or tardiness within four-months from the date of a previous final written warning for attendance or tardiness will be subject to discharge. VII. PROCEDURE ASSIGNMENT OF ATTENDANCE POINTS: A. The attendance point system only applies to non-exempt employees; however, exempt employees will be held to reasonable standards and expectations of their direct supervisor and will be subject to the appropriate level of corrective action. (See Attachment G and H). A record of discussion may also be used to memorialize coaching sessions. (See Attachment E). However, a record of discussion is not considered corrective action for disciplinary purposes. B. For non-exempt employees, attendance points will be assigned as outlined below: 1. Absence - One (1) point for every hour or portion of an hour of the shift (i.e., eight (8) hours scheduled equals eight (8) points that an employee is absent). (See Attachment A) 3

4 2. Late Call: An employee s failure to notify his/her immediate supervisor (or approved departmental alternate) at least (2) hours prior to the designated starting time. a. Late call-offs received less than 2 hours prior to the employee s designated starting time and up to one (1) hour after the employee s designated starting time are: 1. Not eligible for any type of payment for the time not worked. 2. Subject to 5 points for the first hour of the scheduled shift and one (1) point for each hour or portion of an hour of the remaining shift not worked. 3. For patient care purposes, it is at the discretion of the supervisor to determine if an employee may work a portion of a shift after calling in late. b. Late call-offs received more than one (1) hour after the designated start time are: 1. Not eligible for any type of payment for time not worked. 2. Subject to 5 points for all hours or portions of an hour of the scheduled shift before the employee called off and 2 points for all hours or portion of an hour of the remaining shift not worked. 3. For patient care purposes, it is at the discretion of the supervisor to determine if an employee may work a portion of a shift after calling in late. c. Tardiness: Tardy occurrences of less than one hour will be counted as an incident of tardiness and will be subject to corrective action per the tardy incident schedule. (See Attachment B). Occurrences of one (1) hour or greater will be handled as an absence and assigned points for absenteeism. d. No Call/No Show: Employees who fail to notify their immediate supervisor (or their designated alternate) of an absence (unless failure to give notice was reasonably beyond the control of the employee) will: 1. Not be eligible for sick leave or any type of payment. 4

5 2. Accrue (5) points for every hour or portion of an hour of the missed shift. 3. Job Abandonment: No call / no show absences of three or more consecutive work days (unless failure to give notice was beyond the reasonable control of the employee) will result in termination of employment. 4. Holiday / Paid Time Off: Absence before or after paid time off or absences on holidays. a. Holiday: An absence on the last scheduled day before, the day of, or the next scheduled day after a designated holiday will result in two (2) points being assigned for every hour absent and may be subject to no holiday pay (Refer to Holidays Policy II-19). b. Paid Time Off: If an employee is scheduled for paid time off, an absence on the last day scheduled the day before or the next scheduled day after the paid time off will result in two (2) points being assigned for every hour absent. C. Overtime: Employees scheduled to work overtime or who voluntarily accept overtime assignment will be subject to the provisions of these standards. D. Second Final Written Warning: An employee who receives a second final written warning for attendance or tardiness within four-months from the date of a previous final written warning for attendance or tardiness will be subject to discharge. E. Absence combined with Tardy: While on a final written warning for either attendance or tardiness violations, an employee may be terminated for accruing five (5) additional incidents of tardiness or sixteen (16) points for attendance violations (eight (8) points if in part-time status). F. Patterned Absences: Pattern absenteeism may involve a single occurrence of abuse as in the case of an employee being denied a request for paid or unpaid time off work and subsequently calling off for the same day due to illness. Suspected patterns of absenteeism must be reviewed by Employee / Labor Relations. If verified, patterned absences will be subject to the Corrective Action Policy (II-36). Pattern absences may include but are not limited to: 1. Absences occurring repetitively before or after weekends or holidays; 5

6 2. Absences occurring after the employee was initially denied time off by his/her direct supervisor; G. Medical Appointments: For up to three (3) scheduled medical appointments per calendar year, employees will not receive attendance points for a maximum of three (3) hours per medical appointment. 1. Employees must request approval from their immediate supervisor in advance of their appointment. 2. Employees are expected to use their best efforts to schedule medical appointments so as not to disrupt patient care and/or essential departmental operational needs. 3. The supervisor will evaluate whether or not the employee s absence will disrupt patient care and/or essential departmental operational needs. 4. The supervisor will notify the employee if the requested appointment time is approved as soon as possible after the employee s request. 5. Upon a supervisor s request, employees may be required to present valid documentation on their next scheduled workday demonstrating they attended the medical appointment. Employees failing to produce valid documentation upon request may be subject to attendance points and corrective action. 6. Points will be assigned for work time missed in excess of three (3) hours per medical appointment or for more than three (3) medical appointments in a calendar year. H. Illness: Points will be assessed for every hour or portion of an hour that an employee leaves work early due to an illness (i.e., an employee who leaves work because of illness three (3) hours before the end of the shift will be assessed three (3) points). Partial hours are rounded to the nearest full hour. I. Pandemic Illness 1. In incidences of a declared pandemic illness, Human Resources will consult with Infection Control to determine appropriate measures related to attendance. J. Calculation: The standards of absenteeism are determined by the employee s budgeted hours (full-time or part-time) and are based upon a rolling twelve (12) month period or less. (See Attachment A). If an employee misses time due to FMLA and/or other non-vacation leaves of absences in excess of seven (7) consecutive days or more in a rolling 12 6

7 month period, the rolling year will be extended beyond the twelve months by the amount of time missed. K. Tardiness: The standards for tardiness are based upon a rolling twelve (12) month period or less, regardless of the employee s status. (See Attachment B). L. Six-Month Point Drop-Off: An employee who receives no attendance points for six (6) months will be eligible for a reduction in points. This six (6) month time period will begin from the date of absence when the last attendance points were received. The employee s oldest points will be deleted first as follows: 1. Full-time employees (budgeted to work more 60 hours or more biweekly) who receive no attendance points for six (6) consecutive months will have the oldest sixteen (16) attendance points deleted from their attendance record. 2. Part-time employees (budgeted to work less than 60 hours biweekly) who receive no attendance points for six (6) consecutive months shall have the oldest ten (10) attendance points deleted from their attendance record. 3. Employee s attendance point totals are not to be reduced below zero. 4. Attendance points will be deleted in the order that they were received, (i.e., the oldest points are deleted first, corresponding to the earliest dates for which attendance points were received). 5. Non-vacation leaves, including FMLA leave, of seven (7) consecutive days or more, do not count toward the six-month point drop-off period. This means that the six-month point drop-off period will be extended beyond the six (6) months by the amount of time missed due to official leave of absences, including FMLA, of seven consecutive days or greater. M. Worker s Compensation: Initial day of injury does not accrue points. For additional information refer to Attachment E. VIII. CHANGE IN STATUS: A. When employees changes their budgeted FTE status from full-time (60 hours or more biweekly) to part-time (less than 60 hours biweekly), their points total will be converted to the part-time standards by multiplying their points by three-fifths (.6). Example: A full-time employee reached 56 attendance points and has already received a written warning. The employee then 7

8 transfers to a part-time position (budgeted less than sixty 60 hours biweekly). The attendance points will be converted to part-time standards. The employee s new point total will be thirty-four (34). (56 points x.6 = 34 points). B. The same procedure would be used with respect to converting point totals when an employee moves from part-time to full-time status, except the multiplier would be five-thirds (1.67) Example: A part-time employee reached 34 attendance points and has already received a verbal warning. The employee then transfers to a full-time position (budgeted 60 hours or more biweekly). The attendance points will be converted to full-time standards. The employee s new point total will be fifty-seven (57). (34 points x 1.67 = 57 points). C. All future roll-off time should also have the points converted so that the proper deductions are applied. However, any existing corrective action will remain active at the existing warning level at the time of conversion. IX. NEW HIRE PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES: A. Employees who are serving their initial new hire probationary period are subject to the probationary point assignment. Attendance of these employees shall be evaluated based on a standard that takes into account their probationary status. (See Attachment A). This does not apply to probations connected to the bid process. B. If a new hire probationary employee accumulates twenty-four (24) or more points at any one time during the first ninety (90) days of employment, discharge may result. Example: One full day of no call/no show would result in forty (40) attendance points and subject the probationary employee to termination of employment. All recommendations for discharge must be reviewed and approved by Employee and Labor Relations. C. Consecutive days of absence due to hospitalization or communicable disease will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the employee s department and Employee/Labor Relations. D. After successful completion of the probationary period, the employee s point total will be assessed and the employee will be informed of the point status under the standard for regular full-time or part-time employees. X. CROSS REFERENCE: 8

9 A. Policy II-9 Inclement Weather B. Policy II-19 Holidays C. Policy II-20 Leaves of Absence D. Policy II-23 Vacation E. Policy II-30 Employee Work-Related Illness/Injury Investigation F. Policy II-36 Corrective Action G. Policy II-42 Family and Medical Leave XI. ATTACHMENTS: A. Attendance Points Charts B. Tardiness Incident Chart C. Attendance Points Tracking Form D. Record of Tardiness Tracking Form E. Worker s Compensation Explanation F. Record of Discussion Notice G. Corrective Action Report H. Instructions For Completing Corrective Action Report 9