Supervisors - What do you consider to be excessive leave usage? (employee, highest)

[Jardine8]

I supervise several employees that are part of a larger IT team. I have one employee that I view to be a below average performer and who, IMO, has a leave usage issue. This employee is a single minority female with four children. I know that raising 4 children largely on her own is problematic and I try to sympathize with that issue and give some leeway but I also don't feel that I can have a totally separate set of rules for one employee and a different set of rules for the other employees.

So, some general questions to toss out to the readers who currently supervise or have supervised before:

1. What do you consider to be excessive absences? Is there a certain number of days/hours per year?
2. How much do you take into account the person's individual situation (single parent, has multiple kids, etc.)?





The employee in question has used 90 to 95 hours of leave since July 1. IMO, that is a lot of leave usage. Part of what annoys me with her is that she doesn't give me any real notice ahead of time when she needs to be off or is going to call in. I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed if the employee requested time off in advance but that is not how this employee typically works. I typically get a text or a phone call that morning stating that she doesn't think she can make it in today. It is rather annoying. Granted, I do know the employee decently well and she is not someone that is organized and disciplined, so I would expect nothing else from her. I would be shocked if her home life was actually functional and structured.

So, most of her leave usage is unplanned and the excuse is typically that one of her kids is sick, she doesn't feel well, she has some personal things to take care of, etc. Some of her leave usage is also do to her showing up late for work. Her start time is at 8AM but she is almost never at work on time. The problem is that I can't catch her showing up late every single day, as I have worked of my own to do and can't just hover around her cubicle waiting to catch her. When she knows that I am aware of her being late, she will notate it on her timesheet and use leave for that time period. If she doesn't think that I know about it or can't prove it, she simply lists her start time as 8AM on her timesheet and pretends like she was there the whole time. It is almost like an unspoken game between the two of us to see who can outwit the other. It is a game that I am getting tired of, as the fact remains that I basically know that she is lying on her timesheets. The problem is proving it, since I can't stay at her cubicle every morning to notate what time she shows up each day.

I know some will likely say "fire her" or "get rid of her". Well, here is the tough part - we work for a government agency and termination of an employee in this setting is VERY difficult, even for poor performers. I would assume that the situation would have to be absolutely horrendous and that I would have to document every single absence, length of absence, the excuse given, whether or not there was advance notice of the absence, etc. I also worry that if she got desperate, that she might spin this as a racial issue to the HR department, as I am a white male. I personally feel that the employee should be held accountable for her poor performance and lack of planning but the deck definitely seems to be stacked against me.

The other worry I have is that our leave usage is very transparent. I only supervise a portion of our 100 or so employees but we have access to see everyone's leave usage. This employee has the highest leave usage among the group that I supervise but not the highest leave usage among all of the employees at this office. Some of the ones that have used more than her have been out due for medical reasons but not all of them. So, I would be worried that she would point at the employees that have used more leave than her and ask what was being done about them. In some regards I would understand but I don't supervise those employees.

Sorry for being so long-winded but this is one issue that has been weighing on me lately and I am starting to feel more like a babysitter than a supervisor when it comes to this employee.

[old fed]

you say government agency. is this a federal agency?

if the department is not addressing the leave usage of all employees you might run into disparate treatment issues as you note. however, what you do with other employees is confidential and not her business and you can't discuss with her but if she's in a bargaining unit it will become an issue. what is the nature of the leave usage of others, planned vs unplanned, SL vs AL?

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by old fed

you say government agency. is this a federal agency?

if the department is not addressing the leave usage of all employees you might run into disparate treatment issues as you note. however, what you do with other employees is confidential and not her business and you can't discuss with her but if she's in a bargaining unit it will become an issue. what is the nature of the leave usage of others, planned vs unplanned, SL vs AL?

No, it is not a federal agency.

The tough part is that I don't supervise the others that are using a lot of leave, so I am not privy to their situation. Most of our leave is lumped in as personal leave. We accrue personal leave and medical leave. So, even if you take vacation, it is classified as using personal leave. We also require employees to user personal leave for the first 8 hours of an illness, so if an employee has a 1 day absence due to illness, it shows up as personal leave rather than medical leave. As such, the vast majority of leave used in our office is personal leave rather than medical leave. The only time you see a lot of medical leave usage is if an employee is out for an extended period of time due to a medical issue.

Part of my issue with the employee is that almost all of her leave is unplanned - ie calling in sick the morning of or calling in needing the day off for some issue (non-medical issue). I wouldn't be so annoyed with her if she planned things a little better and gave us notice. Just this morning this employee called in because her kids are off from school due to fall break and she doesn't have anyone to babysit. You can't tell me that the employee didn't know that her kids would out of school today and that she would need to make appropriate arrangements so that she could get to work. Of course, she didn't so she is being allowed to work from home today (management above me agreed this morning to allow it), which is basically like a paid vacation as she probably is going to get very little work done today. This is her 4th time in the last 3 weeks using the "I need to work from home today" excuse. I personally don't like it but working from home is a decision that is approved by a level of management above me. To me, it feels like it is becoming a crutch that she is using to avoid showing up for work (or using personal leave).

[psusra112]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

No, it is not a federal agency.

The tough part is that I don't supervise the others that are using a lot of leave, so I am not privy to their situation. Most of our leave is lumped in as personal leave. We accrue personal leave and medical leave. So, even if you take vacation, it is classified as using personal leave. We also require employees to user personal leave for the first 8 hours of an illness, so if an employee has a 1 day absence due to illness, it shows up as personal leave rather than medical leave. As such, the vast majority of leave used in our office is personal leave rather than medical leave. The only time you see a lot of medical leave usage is if an employee is out for an extended period of time due to a medical issue.

Part of my issue with the employee is that almost all of her leave is unplanned - ie calling in sick the morning of or calling in needing the day off for some issue (non-medical issue). I wouldn't be so annoyed with her if she planned things a little better and gave us notice. Just this morning this employee called in because her kids are off from school due to fall break and she doesn't have anyone to babysit. You can't tell me that the employee didn't know that her kids would out of school today and that she would need to make appropriate arrangements so that she could get to work. Of course, she didn't so she is being allowed to work from home today (management above me agreed this morning to allow it), which is basically like a paid vacation as she probably is going to get very little work done today. This is her 4th time in the last 3 weeks using the "I need to work from home today" excuse. I personally don't like it but working from home is a decision that is approved by a level of management above me. To me, it feels like it is becoming a crutch that she is using to avoid showing up for work (or using personal leave).

This is why the USA isn't a first world country any more. Let me get this straight:

Your employer provides this employee with a job benefit to which they're entitled (Personal Leave) and you're upset that said employee is actually using said benefit? Is there any written policy that states x days notice is required, "cannot take more than x hours in a row"?

Things happen, the woman has kids. I'll take it that you don't?

(I don't have kids, but I manage folks who do. If you're good to the employees, they're good to you)

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by psusra112

This is why the USA isn't a first world country any more. Let me get this straight:

Your employer provides this employee with a job benefit to which they're entitled (Personal Leave) and you're upset that said employee is actually using said benefit? Is there any written policy that states x days notice is required, "cannot take more than x hours in a row"?

Things happen, the woman has kids. I'll take it that you don't?

(I don't have kids, but I manage folks who do. If you're good to the employees, they're good to you)

No, I don't have kids. Even if I did, I wouldn't use 95 hours of leave in 3 1/2 months. You do realize at the rate that she is going that she will end up using over well 300 hours of leave this year, right? Of course, that is only if she doesn't end up on leave without pay first, as I don't view her current usage rate to be sustainable.

Since you are so offended, please tell me where I am out of line here? She has a job to do and she calls in at the last minute repeatedly. Did you happen to miss the part where I stated that she shows up late for work every single day and only documents it with personal leave usage if she gets caught doing so by me? Her documented leave rate usage is 95 hours of leave in 3 1/2 months. If she was truly forced to document all of her leave (ie including all of the days where she shows up 30 to 45 minutes late), then she would likely be in excess of 120 hours of leave used during that time period.

[Hemlock140]

That seems high, but as long as the person has not used up their PTO or sick leave then they are entitled to it. When they start on leave without pay then there is cause for concern. It's different when on initial probation however. Here it's 6 months probation and while they accumulate sick leave/PTO they are not allowed to take any of it until after passing so it's all leave without pay. Using 95 hours in that time could be grounds for failing probation unless for a very good reason and doing impeccable work.

[Jardine8]

To sum it up, my real issue with the employee is this:

1. No real notice on days that she calls it, such as with her kids being out on fall break. She knew this ahead of time and simply failed to plan.
I know if someone gets sick overnight that I am going to get a call that morning saying that she will be out for the day. I completely understand that and have no issue with it. It is the other absences with no notice that drive me nuts, as it basically indicates to me that she is a chaotic undisciplined mess.

2. Lying on her timesheet. Her leave time is actually understated because she falsifies her weekly timesheet virtually every week by lying about what time she shows up to work. The problem is that I can't hang out by her cubicle every morning to make sure that she shows up at 8AM.

[MPowering1]

At about three days a month, I find that excessive. Having something come up every month is also excessive. With a three and a half month timeframe, she would have been written up and gone by now.

It isn't just about her, it's also about the people around her who must pick up the slack every time she's gone. It's very demotivating to have someone like that on the team. Especially with lame excuses like not feeling well (versus being sick) or needing to take care of personal issues.

I am sensitive to the plight of the single parent, but won't be played either. She doesn't sound like she's very interested in keeping her job and I'm a big believer that a manager should only be as interested in keeping a person, as that person is in keeping the job. In other words, don't bend over backwards to keep someone who isn't bending over backwards to stay.

[joe from dayton]

HR does not have a policy on what acceptable leave usage is?

[Suburban_Guy]

I don't see the relevance of pointing out she was a 'minority female.'

Sure sounds excessive leave to me, but that's on it own merits.