ATTENDANCE POLICY The Beer Store and Brewers Distributor Ltd. are committed to providing a standard of excellence, which can only be achieved and maintained through the consistent attendance of scheduled staff. Dependability, attendance, punctuality and a commitment to do the job accurately are essential at all times. Employees are expected to work on all scheduled days and during all scheduled hours. Regular attendance is essential to the Company s efficient operation and is a condition of employment. Failure to comply with attendance procedures is a serious matter and will result in discipline, up to and including termination, depending on the nature and severity of the violation. Failure to attend work has a significant negative impact on our success through lost production, the disruption of daily operations and the additional costs of replacement. When employees are absent, schedules and customer commitments fall behind and other employees must assume added workloads. Many of our employees receive time off with pay throughout the year, including vacation time, stat holidays, personal time and sick days. Vacations are to be scheduled in accordance with the Collective Agreement. Sick or personal time (where available) may be used in the case of sudden illness or injury without prior scheduling. Notwithstanding anything in this policy, the attendance policy will be interpreted and applied in a manner consistent with applicable Employment Standards, Human Rights legislation or any other legislation. Definition of Absence Non-culpable (innocent) absenteeism is an absence from work for supported reasons beyond the employee s control. This includes, but is not limited to: illnesses, accidents and leaves due to healthrelated medical reasons. Non-culpable absenteeism does not result in progressive disciplinary actions. However, this may be addressed through attendance management and counseling. Persistent or prolonged non-culpable absenteeism may result in the termination of employment for innocent absenteeism. Culpable absences are instances where an employee is absent from work without a supported and/or justifiable reason. This may include an excuse for reasons within the employee s control or without having provided their manager/supervisor with adequate notice. It includes, but is not limited to: arriving to work late, leaving work early, extended breaks, absence without adequate or proper notice, or abuse of sick leave (paid or unpaid). An employee may be disciplined for culpable absences and may also be disciplined for failure to follow call in or attendance procedures.
There may be occasions where Management identifies employees who have persistent, excessive or pattern absenteeism which is not justified. Management may deal with these employees separate from this policy. Culpable Absences and Tardiness Prescheduled times away from work using accrued vacation, holiday, banked time (where applicable), etc. and authorized leaves of absence are not considered occurrences of culpable absence for the purpose of this policy. An absence occurs when an employee misses work. An absence of multiple days due to the same illness, injury or other incident will be counted as one occurrence. Otherwise, an absence up to a single day will be counted as one occurrence. A tardy arrival, early departure or other shift interruption is considered an absence and will be counted as one occurrence. Arrival and departure times will be determined based on the posted schedule and as recorded by the time clock system (where available). An employee is considered late if they report to work, ready to start their shift, more than two minutes after their scheduled starting time; an early departure is one in which the employee leaves without authorization before the scheduled end of their shift. If an employee is scheduled to work overtime and either fails to report, reports after their scheduled start time or leaves early, a culpable absence occurrence will be recorded, as noted above. Progressive Discipline For Culpable Absences Or For Attendance Procedure Violations Culpable absence occurrences are counted in a rolling six month period. Culpable absence occurrences expire six months from the date of the incident. Step One Coaching Four occurrences, as outlined above, in any six month period will be the basis for a coaching discussion between the employee and manager/supervisor. The purpose of the coaching session, and all subsequent meetings, is to make the employee aware that they have been absent or tardy to such an extent as to draw attention to their attendance, to find out if there are any problems or issues that the employee may be facing for which we can provide support and to be certain that the employee understands this policy and the consequences of contravention. The coaching session will be documented to the employee s personnel file and the request for supporting evidence could be required for further absences.
Step Two Verbal Three additional occurrences within the six month period of the initial coaching session is cause for a verbal warning with documentation to the employee s file. The verbal warning should be delivered by the employee s manager/supervisor in the presence of the Union, and serves to notify the employee that they are in contravention of this policy and that additional occurrences will result in further disciplinary action. Step Three Written Two additional occurrences within the six month period following the verbal warning will trigger a written warning putting the employee on formal notice of contravention of this policy. This should be delivered in the presence of the Union and should include a further discussion on the causes of, and possible solutions for, the problem. Step Four Suspension Two additional occurrences within the six month period following the written warning is cause for a final written warning with a one day suspension without pay. This should be delivered in the presence of the Union and should include a further discussion on the causes of, and possible solutions for, the problem. Step Five Termination (Final Step) Two additional occurrences within the six month period following the suspension is cause for termination of employment. This should be delivered in person in the presence of the Union. Although each step allows for a six month interval for additional occurrences, if the required occurrences are observed within a shorter timeframe, the steps may progress in a shorter period of time. Notwithstanding these progressive discipline steps, management reserves its discretion respecting the level of appropriate discipline and depending on the facts, can skip discipline steps and proceed immediately to higher levels of discipline or termination. No Call/No Show and Attendance Procedure Violations Not reporting to work and not calling to report an absence is a considered to be a No Call/No Show and is a very serious matter.
First Instance The first instance of a No Call/No Show will result in a written warning. Second Instance The second offense, either in a separate occurrence or in conjunction with the first instance, will result in a final written warning with a one day unpaid suspension. Third Instance The third offense, either in a separate occurrence or in conjunction with the previous two instances, will result in the termination of employment for cause. Any No Call/No Show lasting three consecutive shifts is considered job abandonment and will result in the immediate termination of employment. If the employee has already begun the discipline process for culpable attendance when a no call/no show occurs, or if the circumstances merit it, the disciplinary process may be accelerated to the final step, termination. Management may consider extenuating circumstances when determining discipline for any no call/no show occurrences and has the right to exercise discretion. Please also note that in order to be considered a no call/no show occurrence, the employee must not be permitted to work. If they are permitted to work, this occurrence would be considered a culpable or non-culpable occurrence depending on the circumstances. Procedures Respecting Discipline For Absenteeism Where practical, no action should be taken without direct involvement of the Employee Relations Department as counsel to management. Where practical, all warnings should be delivered in person by the manager/supervisor and may include Employee Relations as circumstances require. A union representative must attend all disciplinary steps or meetings where discipline may result. Management reserves the right to use discretion in applying this policy under special or unique circumstances. Although culpable absences will roll off the employee s record after six months, habitual offenders may trigger discipline or termination even though six month old infractions have fallen off if the employee continues to incur incidents. Examples of this may be those with persistent and prolonged absences, those who have established a pattern of absences, such as consistently having four or more occurrences in any given six month period, routinely calling in on Mondays and/or Fridays, or any other patterning to call ins.
Non-Culpable Absences A non-culpable absence must be reasonably supported. In situations where supporting documentation or information is required, an employee may be subject to discipline for failure to provide the requested documentation and/or the non-culpable absence may be treated as a culpable absence. Non-Culpable absenteeism will be reviewed four (4) times per year, at the end of January, April, July and October. During this process, the non-culpable absenteeism rate of each employee is compared to the bargaining unit or other established average. Employees with non-culpable absenteeism rates that exceed the established average during the period of review will be flagged and the employee s attendance records will be reviewed in detail. An employee who has one (1) incident of absence where that absence has been approved for Short Term Disability (STD) coverage in a 12 month period will not advance in the process. Employees are expected to attend work regularly. Persistent or prolonged non-culpable absenteeism can lead to termination of employment for innocent absenteeism. Where an employee has persistent or prolonged non-culpable absenteeism, Management may counsel the employee and document the counseling. The counseling sessions and corresponding counseling letters do not constitute discipline. The purpose of the counseling is to: (1) fairly put the employee on notice that the level of absenteeism is not acceptable and that if it persists or becomes more prolonged, it may lead to the termination of employment for innocent absenteeism; (2) identify if there are any causes for the non-culpable absences which can be addressed by the employee and/or Management; and (3) refer the employee to the Employee Family Assistance Program (EFAP) or Members Assistance Program (MAP) as appropriate. Management reserves the right to amend or discontinue this policy at any time without notice. Enrolment and advancement in the program will not necessarily be automatic. The Company will consider factors such as the nature, frequency and persistence of the absences or attendance problems as well as whether there have been attempts to address the employee s attendance problem, the underlying causes of the absenteeism and a reasonable comparison to the attendance records of other employees.
In order to address non-culpable attendance problems effectively, the following procedures must be adhered to by management in the presence of a union steward: Coaching Counseling #1 Counseling #2 Counseling #3 Counseling #4 Non-Punitive Termination Where an employee has four (4) consecutive quarters without exceeding the established average, that employee will revert back to the Coaching stage. Ted Moroz January, 2017