Office of Human Resources

Attendance concerns must be managed with an understanding of the Family Medical Leave Act, Small Necessities Act and worker compensation. (See "personal leave" policy.)

Employees may not be penalized for taking qualified FMLA, SNLA or workers' compensation time away; therefore, these absences may not be counted when taking corrective action with regard to attendance or other reliability issues.

Human resources staff should be consulted for assistance in managing attendance issues where there is consideration relative to FMLA, SNLA, workers' compensation and/or the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

An unreported absence is the failure to provide timely notification to an appropriate supervisor for absence from work, tardiness from work or leaving work early without prior notice to the supervisor.

Absence from work for three consecutive scheduled work days without notifying the appropriate supervisor will be considered a voluntary resignation without notice.

Excessive and/or abusive absence may include frequent unplanned days (excluding FMLA, SNLA and workers’ compensation time away) and/or a pattern of unscheduled absences occurring before and/or after scheduled days off, holiday or vacation.

Managers and supervisors should monitor and discuss excessive absences with employees to determine whether or not the absence(s) is/are FMLA, SNLA or workers’ compensation time and, if the absences are not in these categories and are excessive or abusive, then corrective action should be taken.

Tardiness is unauthorized lateness for work or leaving work early without prior approval. Managers and supervisors should monitor and discuss tardiness issues and leaving work early with employees to determine if corrective action should be taken. As with absence from work, tardiness issues may be related to FMLA, SNLA or workers’ compensation time away. If so, then tardiness in these instances cannot be considered as part of the corrective action process.

While absence, tardiness, etc. may be FMLA-, SNLA- or workers’ compensation-related, employees are expected to provide adequate notice when the absence, tardiness, etc. is foreseeable. Failure to provide adequate notice in these circumstances may be grounds for corrective action.

The university is composed of many departments engaged in many different activities and functions. This being the case, operational needs may vary considerably from one department to another and, therefore, attendance and punctuality expectations, call-in procedures, etc. may need to be adapted to the specific needs of a department. The Office of Human Resources is available for assistance in establishing appropriate departmental guidelines and must be consulted before any such guidelines are issued or applied within the department.

In establishing attendance expectations, a department manager will need to consider what may be a reasonable number of unplanned absences, the department’s specific operational needs, and attendance patterns/concerns within the department itself. Managers should consider establishing guidelines that include addressing potential attendance issues with staff and, if necessary, taking corrective action. For instance, a department manager may determine when a specific number of absences within a certain time frame are problematic. With guidelines in mind, the supervisor may then address the concern with the employee to determine if there is an FMLA, SNLA or workers’ compensation reason for the absence. If not, corrective action may be warranted.

Adequate notification of absence from work or late arrival to work is important so that departments have time to arrange for a replacement or to reassign the work load. It is generally expected that in the event of unscheduled absence or tardiness, employees notify the supervisor or the supervisor’s designee as soon as possible but at least 60 minutes before their scheduled starting time. Departmental expectations may vary to a reasonable degree, based on the operational needs of the particular area.

It is the responsibility of the employee to contact the supervisor directly. Calls from relatives, friends or co-workers are generally unacceptable. If the immediate supervisor is unavailable, the employee must speak with an appropriate designee.

Unreported absence, excessive or abusive absence and excessive tardiness may result in corrective action (see conduct standards and corrective action policy) and may lead to termination. Any written corrective action plan must be reviewed with the appropriate human resources staff member before being issued to an employee.

Paid leave is designed to accommodate the needs of employees for absences due to vacation, holiday, illness and personal needs. Paid leave is a benefit that should be used wisely and, whenever possible, in a scheduled manner. Frequent absences without reason satisfactory to the university, and not covered by provisions of FMLA, SNLA or workers’ compensation, may result in corrective action and may lead to termination of employment. Attendance issues may be addressed with an employee regardless of the amount of accrued sick, personal time or vacation time available.