View Point Health Basics of Supervision Module 2: Leave Management 1. Introduction 2. Earning Paid Leave 3. Using Leave 4. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) 5. Employee Leave Management Responsibilities 6. Supervisor Leave Management Responsibilities 7. Leave Issues and Payroll Revised October 2011
1. Introduction The employee and supervisor are jointly accountable for responsible use of leave. Salaried employees are scheduled for 40 hours per week (less, if they are part-time salaried). When an employee is not at work for his scheduled hours, his absence must be accounted for by some type of leave, either paid or unpaid and either approved or disapproved by the supervisor. The type of leave is recorded on the work record for non-exempt employees and supported by a signed leave request form for all employees who earn paid leave. 2. Earning Paid Leave Earning paid leave is an entitlement for salaried VPH employees who are eligible. Beginning on the date of employment, full time employees in pay status earn leave as follows: 5 hours of Paid Time Off (PTO) per pay period. This increases with tenure. 9 days per year holiday leave (12 for Classified and ERS staff) Salaried, part-time employees who work at least 50% time earn pro-rated leave based on the number of regularly scheduled hours. In one year s time, a full-time employee with less than 5 years of service will earn: PTO 5 hours per pay period x 24 pay periods= 120 hours Holidays 9 days per year x 8 hours per day = +72 hours 192 hours per year =24 eight-hour days After five years of service, a full-time employee earns 6 hours of PTO per pay period. After ten years of service, he earns 7 hours per pay period. To gauge the value of paid leave to the employee, consider the following example: An entry-level Residential Care Provider (Houseparent) makes the equivalent of $8.91 per hour. in base salary. 192 hours PTO earned per year x $8.91 = $1,710.72/yr. + 36.313% benefits = $2,331.93 per year for time not actually worked. The value of the PTO for an employee with a higher rate of pay is correspondingly higher. Unused PTO and holiday leave have an actual cash value to employees, should they depart VPH employment. Page 2 of 8
3. Using Leave While earning leave is an entitlement for eligible employees, using earned leave is a privilege, not an entitlement. An employee can use paid leave only with supervisor approval. Allowing employees to use PTO and holiday leave is a good business practice and is one of the few areas of compensation in which VPH is competitive. Granting annual and holiday leave recognizes an employee s need for time away for recreation, vacation, illness, accidents, doctor appointments, school, family, home activities, etc. When managed appropriately, use of leave enhances employee relations and general morale. Supervisors are responsible for developing work schedules that allow all subordinates a reasonable amount of planned time off without jeopardizing needed staff coverage within the program. The supervisor is responsible for following VPH policy and procedures related to leave approvals. An employee earns PTO for every pay period during which he is in pay status for at least 40 hours, beginning with his first pay period. The leave is credited and available for use on the first day of the following pay period. However, that does not necessarily mean that the supervisor should approve the leave s use. In evaluating leave requests, the supervisor gives precedence to the staffing needs of the agency. The individual s use of paid leave is a privilege. Each VPH employee is responsible for reporting to work when scheduled unless he/she has pre-approved time off or has an emergency or sudden illness. The supervisor s denial of a leave request is not a grievable issue. The one exception to the using leave is not an entitlement message is Family Medical Leave. If the reason for a requested absence falls under the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act, (personal illness or incapacity lasting more than 3 days, birth or adoption of a child, or care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition), the leave MUST be granted, if the employee is eligible and timely submits the appropriate documentation. The FMLA only guarantees approved time off, not payment. If the employee wants to be PAID during his FMLA absence period, he/she may request use of available PTO. 4. Employee Leave Management Responsibilities The employee maintains an adequate PTO balance to cover unexpected events such as accidents or family deaths. The employee requests leave ahead of time, except for emergencies. Page 3 of 8
The employee takes into account work loads and staffing needs when making PTO requests. This is also a part of each employee s responsibility for teamwork and organizational commitment. The employee follows established procedures for requesting leave. The employee provides required documentation for leave approval, when necessary. 5. Supervisor Leave Management Responsibilities The supervisor communicates leave policy and procedures to subordinates and evaluates each subordinate s appropriate use of leave on the yearly performance evaluation. The supervisor understands the basics of the Family Medical Leave Act and coordinates approval for absences under the FMLA with the employee and HR. The supervisor is consistent and fair in approval or disapproval of leave requests. The supervisor plans schedules so that all staff have the opportunity to take holidays and reasonable vacation periods. The supervisor balances employee desires/needs with program requirements in approving or denying leave for holidays and vacations. This may involve developing a system based on employee longevity or other means to allot fairly the available leave time without compromising program needs. The supervisor reviews an employee s PTO balance and takes them into account in determining approval or denial of a leave request. The supervisor approves or denies a leave request within a reasonable time frame following its submission and notifies the employee of the decision. When the manager has designated a leavekeeper within the unit or program, the supervisor provides copies of completed leave forms to the leavekeeper in a timely manner so that an accurate and up-to-date leave record is maintained on each employee. The leavekeeper s ONLY responsibility is recordkeeping. Responsibility for management and documentation of leave use always rests with the supervisor and employee. The supervisor regularly reviews employee leave balances and follows progressive discipline steps, if the record shows a pattern or issue with appropriate use of leave: Page 4 of 8
Step 1: Verbal counseling with the employee with an informal note in the supervisory file showing the date, topic discussed, action plan, and follow-up date. Step 2: Presentation to the employee of a letter of expectation with a leave plan, if attendance is unsatisfactory (last minute call-outs, low leave balances, high numbers of requests, failure to take agency needs into consideration, etc.) An HR representative can assist the supervisor with this step. A copy of the letter of expectation goes into the supervisor s performance management file on the employee. Step 3: Presentation to the employee of a letter of reprimand, if expectations are not met. Again, consultation with an HR representative is advised. Reprimand letters are copied for the official personnel file. Step 4: Adverse action, such as pay reduction or termination, for continued failure to meet expectations. This can ONLY be done through consultation with an HR representative. If any employee has insufficient PTO to cover a necessary absence or is absent without the supervisor s approval, the supervisor notifies HR IMMEDIATELY. Those types of absences impact the employee s pay. The supervisor then follows up with written documentation for the personnel file and possibly disciplinary action, depending on the situation. The supervisor maintains leave records on each employee for a minimum of 3 years. 6. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Supervisory approval for time off which falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act is mandatory, when: (1) The employee has been with the agency for one year and worked at least 1250 hours during that period, And (2) The employee s medical condition or that of the close family member qualifies under the definition in the Family and Medical Leave Act, And Page 5 of 8
(3) The employee complies with the required timelines and documentation, And (4) The employee provides adequate advance notice for foreseeable absences. Under this federal law, time off is available for personal illness or incapacity lasting longer than 3 days, birth or adoption of a child, or care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition. Some FMLA leave entitlements are also available for employees dealing with military duties related to a spouse, son, daughter or parent who is on active duty. Up to twelve weeks of leave are available in a year, and it may be used intermittently in certain circumstances. The poster on view at each work site titled Employee Rights and Responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act provides details. HR staff can provide more specific information and determine individual eligibility. The supervisor notifies the HR office immediately of any request for leave of absence that falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The supervisor provides to the employee within 5 days of the request a completed form: Acknowledgement: Request for Use of Family/Medical Leave. This form advises the employee of rights and responsibilities related to FMLA. This notice to the employee is a requirement of the federal law and is THE SUPERVISOR S responsibility! A HR can help you with questions about completing the acknowledgement. A sample of a correctly-completed form is included at the end of this module. The original goes to the employee with a copy to HR. The acknowledgement form, the Request for Family Leave or Other Leave of Absence form, the required Disability Certification forms and an optional Employee Checklist for FMLA are all available on the VPH intranet site under Forms and Manuals. Each VPH location also has a folder with originals of the forms. As part of the application for leave of absence, the employee must provide the current PTO balance. If the employee has available PTO and wants to be paid during the period of Family and Medical Leave, he must designate this on the request form. Remember: FMLA only guarantees time off the job. Getting paid for the time off is a separate issue. The employee has 15 days from the initial date of the request to submit the leave of absence request form, the Disability Certification form and any other documentation. When the supervisor receives the completed forms from the employee but they are incomplete or provide insufficient documentation supporting eligibility, the supervisor must advise the employee IN WRITING of exactly what is missing and give the employee 7 additional days to obtain and submit it. A blank memo for this purpose is available on the VPH intranet site and in the leave of absence forms folder at each site. Page 6 of 8
Under federal law, the agency must notify the employee of the approval or denial of FMLA leave within two business days of the supervisor s receipt from the employee of the completed leave application, disability certification, and any other supporting documentation. HR will prepare and send a notice with details of the approval and information about benefit coverage during the period of absence. Denial letters are also prepared in HR. Generally, this is a stressful time for the requesting employee. Both the supervisor and HR will provide information and support. But ultimately, completing the process for approval is the employee s responsibility. 7. Leave Issues and Payroll Payroll checks issued on the 15 th and the last day of the month are for the current pay period: payment made on the 15 th is for the time period 1 st through the 15 th and payment made on the last day is for the 16 th through the end of the month. The impact of issuing pay at the end of the current pay period is that pay checks and direct deposits must be prepared prior to employees actually having worked all their scheduled hours for the period. It is imperative that each employee maintain a leave balance sufficient to cover unexpected absences, so that a salary overpayment does not occur. Employees MUST maintain a PTO balance of at least 40 hours to remain eligible for direct deposit. Salary payments made through direct deposit are submitted several days ahead of pay day. They cannot easily be withdrawn at the last minute. If an employee is out and does not have available and approved leave, he will be overpaid. It is the supervisor s responsibility to notify Payroll when a subordinate s balance falls below that mark so that direct deposit is discontinued. Sometimes new employees without leave balances or existing employees with very low balances must be absent for an emergency. The supervisor can approve authorized leave without pay in these circumstances. Other situations may involve unauthorized leave without pay for an employee. In both cases, the supervisor MUST notify HR immediately so that a corresponding salary adjustment can be made. If pay checks have been printed, the check for the incorrect amount can be voided and a corrected one issued. However, this action will delay issuance of the pay check by a minimum of two days. In some circumstances, the overpayment may be recovered from the pay check in the following pay period. With appropriate management of leave use, last-minute adjustments of this nature can usually be avoided. An employee who is absent even though the supervisor denied the leave request is on unauthorized leave without pay. The supervisor must immediately notify Page 7 of 8
HR. Not only does this absence impact pay, but it is recorded in the permanent personnel record and should be the subject of disciplinary action. Leave management typically is routine when employees are cooperative and healthy. But individual issues do come up that require research, strategy, and prompt reporting and action by the supervisor. HR staff is always available for consultation and advice. The supervisor ultimately is accountable for the leave use of his/her subordinates as a part of the stewardship of resources expected of all VPH supervisors. Thank You for helping us reward our employees hard work and ensure the accuracy of our time and leave systems! Page 8 of 8