Draft of HUM Procedures for Policies that were Recently Passed by the Commission
Submitted by vicki.thompson on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 14:26
The attached draft procedures are to accompany the policies recently passed by the Commission. The procedures are:
- SH 130.1 Attedance and Tardiness
- SH 611.1 Unexpected Closure
- SH 670.1 Fleet Safety Procedures
- VG 400.1 Record Retention
We expect these policies and procedures to go into affect January 1.
Supporting Documents:
Comments Close:
Jan 31 2018 - 1:00pm CST
Comments
"2. All employees are required to contact their direct supervisor at least thirty (30) minutes before their shift, or as soon as practicable, if they are unable to report for work at their regularly scheduled time. Notifying anyone other than the direct supervisor or another management team member will not be considered proper notification, and the unauthorized absence or tardiness may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Employees should be prepared to explain both the reason (e.g. illness, family member sickness, FMLA, etc.) for the absence and the time or date when they anticipate being able to return to work.
3. Failure to call in a timely manner will be considered a no call/no show. Two (2) separate incidents of no call/no show will result in termination of employment. A no call/no show event lasting three (3) consecutive workdays may be considered job abandonment and may be deemed an employee’s voluntary resignation of employment. The employee will not be eligible for rehire."
I may have an unique situation. I start my shifts at 08:30 which means that when I am sick that I have to stay awake or set alarms to be able to call after 08:00 when staff will be at the DN lib. To contact the supervisors, I have to log into people.metrolibrary.org or Paycom to find the numbers, then call them. It would be ideal to be able to log into my e-mail to contact that way, but I understand that logging into my e-mail would be working on the clock & I also understand that logging into Paycom is not working off the clock.
Since - by necessity of schedule - I would have to call with less than 30 minutes of notice, I should be in the category of "as soon as practical". I am confident that my current supervisor would see it that way, but since calling and giving notice in my situation could be a "no call/no show", I would rather not leave the fate of my job in such a state of chance. Especially, since I only need to get two of these to end my tenure with the M.L.S. and I don't know who will always be my supervisor. I could easily be sick for three consecutive days which according to this means that at someone else's discretion I could be "voluntarily resign[ed] of employment".
"Should the employee inadvertently forget to punch in or out, he/she should notify the direct supervisor or other management team member immediately."
I may be abnormal in this as well, but when I forget to use the biometric timeclock, then I have forgotten to use the biometric timeclock. The thought doesn't creep back to me during lunch nor later in the day. I am not savvy in H.R., but is there really some necessity that is important enough for an employee to stop his or her lunch to scour for a supervisor because of a missed punch? What happens to an individual like me who won't ever remember to "notify the direct supervisor or other management team member immediately"?
Hey Gatlin! As someone who tends to get the right clock in from clock out for lunch confused I try to check my time sheet once a day and approve it. That way if I mess something up I am able to catch it in a timely manner.
PS I still miss stuff and my awesome supervisors catch it and try to help.
I am not a lawyer, but maybe "as soon as practicable" could include leaving a voice mail at 4 am that just says "uuuuggggghhhhhh, stomach virus, goin' back to bed". Whether intentionally or inadvertently, the procedure seems not to specify that you must speak to an actual person in real time with your face hole. That being said, the rule in my department is that you must contact the manager *and* speak to an actual person, and it seems to work out fine here. I do think it's generally understood that there are occasions when the nature of the illness makes speaking to an actual person impossible or impractical.
Not knowing who your supervisor will be on a day-to-day basis can add an extra layer of angst to calling in. Some workplaces handle this by having employees call in to a central number answered by staff whose job it is to note absences and figure out who needs to know about it. I wonder if that would be helpful here.
As for the biometric timeclock, "immediately" does seem like the wrong word to use. In the immediate aftermath of a timeclock mistake, I have no idea that anything is wrong. And if I startle awake at midnight in a panic because I forgot to punch out, I'm not "immediately" doing one thing about it. They may have meant "immediately upon seeing in Paycom"? I'm a literalist, so this rule as written hurts my brain a little bit.
I sometimes think I'd like to be involved in drafting rules, but then I remember that any attendance policy I write would be about a thousand pages long and start out "WHEREAS, the human body is an imperfect vessel prone to inopportune malfunction; and WHEREAS..."
REALLY excited for this 86 degree cut off! More than once it's been 89 degrees, we'd be getting little to nothing done due to the heat, and we'd beg for that one more degree to send us home. I think 86 is a much more reasonable temperature.
Hi, Terra -
I trust you noticed the words just prior to the extreme temperature guidelines. It is copied here for quick reference. "The following conditions are intended to serve as a guide in decision making, not a prompt for an automatic response." Just for clarification, the temperatures mentioned in the procedure are guidelines, not triggers for closure.
In my opinion, if you experience working conditions too uncomfortable and are prohibitive to getting the job done, you always have the option to discuss the specifics with your supervisor and your library manager. Some employees are more sensitive than others and my need to use leave or perhaps flex schedules so they can remove themselves from the situation.
Several of my staff have asked for clarification on the "30 minutes, or as soon as practicable" portion of the Attendance/Tardiness procedure. The majority begin their days at 8am. Can "as soon as practicable" mean "at opening" in this instance, when staff would be able to call to speak with me or another supervisor on duty? Or does the spirit of this procedure lean toward calling or texting your supervisor on their personal device?
"3. Failure to call in a timely manner will be considered a no call/no show. Two (2) separate incidents of no call/no show will result in termination of employment. A no call/no show event lasting three (3) consecutive workdays may be considered job abandonment and may be deemed an employee’s voluntary resignation of employment. The employee will not be eligible for rehire."
I was discussing this portion of the Attendance and Tardiness Procedure with a coworker and she brought up a good point. This guideline doesn't specify a time limit such as "Annually, two (2) separate incidents of no call/no show will result in termination". Otherwise, you could be late twice in 5 years and be terminated. I thought the reasoning was sound and thought I would put the idea out there.