ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY POLICY

Timely and regular attendance is an expectation of performance for all Sandy Lane Automotive employees. To ensure adequate staffing, positive employee morale, and to meet expected productivity standards throughout the organization, employees will be held accountable for adhering to their workplace schedule. In the event an employee is unable to meet this expectation, they must obtain approval from their supervisor in advance of any requested schedule changes. This approval includes requests to use appropriate accruals, as well as late arrivals to or early departures from work. Supervisors have discretion to evaluate extraordinary circumstances of a tardy, absence or failure to clock-in or clock-out and determine whether or not to count the incident as an occurrence.

Employees who are unable to attend work as scheduled must notify their supervisor directly prior to the start of their scheduled shift and indicate a reason for the absence.  Leaving a message on company voice mail does not fulfill the notification requirement.

Employees must not abuse start or end times for shifts, lunch or rest periods.

Employees must not sleep on the job.

Employees must never falsely report their own attendance, and they may not report attendance for any other employee.

All employees – including those who are paid flat rate – are required to clock in and out at the start and end of each shift.

ABSENTEEISM:

An employee is deemed absent when they

  1. are unavailable for work and such time off was not scheduled/approved in advance by management
  2. leave work prior to the end of a scheduled shift without supervisory approval
  3. take an extended meal or break period without approval

Absences will be categorized as follows:

  1. Vacation, which is scheduled in advance and pre-approved.
  2. Leave, which could include bereavement, medical, WCB, maternity, etc., of which notice must be given in writing either immediately prior or during the first 48 hours of leave
  3. Pre-Approved, for situations when the employee asks and is approved in advance to attend an appointment, deal with a family matter, etc.
  4. Unplanned Absence, when the employee is not at work and has not had the absence pre-approved (i.e. calling in sick).

Any category 4 absences/sick periods in excess of two consecutive days must be accompanied by a note from a physician.

If a physician’s note is provided to account for absenteeism due to illness, the employee will be excused for the period of time stated on the physician’s note.

Frequent absences without medical documentation will be subject to a verbal or written warning.

Frequent absences are quantified as

  • more than 2 sick days per month and
  • more than 12 sick days per year

without accompanying documentation from a physician.

Any employee who is frequently absent due to illness will be required to provide a doctor’s note stating that the illness is the reason for the frequent absences.

ABSENCES AND GENERAL HOLIDAYS:

A general holiday is also known as a statutory holiday.

Any unscheduled absences that occur on the last working day before or the first working day after a statutory holiday will result in no holiday pay being paid to the employee.

The Alberta Employment Standards Code states that “An employee is not entitled to holiday pay when they are absent from employment without consent of the employer on the employee’s last regular working day preceding, or first regular working day following, the general holiday”.

Example: If the holiday falls on a Monday and an employee calls in sick the previous Friday or following Tuesday, they will not be paid for that holiday Monday

Please note that scheduled or pre-approved time off before or after a general holiday will not affect holiday pay (i.e. vacation time booked in advance).

TARDY:

An employee is deemed to be tardy/late when he/she fails to report for work at the assigned/scheduled work time.

Start time for all employees is 8:00 am, Monday through Friday, excepting statutory holidays.

Employees are to be on the floor, ready to work, at 8:00 am.  This means that all personal business (arriving, dressing/undressing, bathroom breaks, lunch room needs, cigarette breaks, etc.) must be completed prior to 8:00 am.

Any employee who is not ready to work at 8:00 am will be given a warning (either verbal or written, depending on the severity and frequency of infractions).

Any employee who expects to be late must inform a supervisor or manager as soon as possible.

A printable version of this policy may be found here.

Dated:  2018-10-15