(A) It is a basic expectation that all employees are expected to report for work on a daily basis and in a punctual manner. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.
(B) Tardiness - In order to preserve and maintain effective operations, employees of the County should be present and ready to work by their assigned starting time. Tardiness can be cause for appropriate disciplinary action when an employee fails to show up on time. A supervisor should exercise discretion to not discipline for tardiness if there is a justifiable emergency and no pattern of chronic tardiness on the part of this employee; however, said discretion must be exercised uniformly in similar situations.
(C) Excused Absences and Illness - An employee shall be considered off with an excused absence provided the employee has received prior approval from a supervisor. Each division or department shall set its own procedure for calling off. If no departmental procedure is in place, then an employee who is absent due to illness must report off prior to or within ten minutes of his/her start time in order to be considered excused. Employees who call off later than fifteen (15) minutes after their start time shall be considered off with an unexcused emergency that impeded the employee's ability to make such contact.
(D) Absence Without Pay
(1) As an entity whose primary responsibility is to serve the public, unnecessary or unauthorized absence can have a very detrimental impact on operations. It is the general policy of the County not to allow employees to be absent without pay, and such notation will not be accepted by the County's payroll system (In certain circumstances, up to 10 (ten) days of unpaid absence may be granted in the twelve (12) month period following an approved Family and Medical Leave - See Family and Medical Leave in Section 4 for details).
(2) However, in certain circumstances, such as a work reduction or at the end of the calendar year where an employee may have already exhausted all of his or her paid leave, a non-paid absence may be granted with written permission of that employee's elected official or department head. Such permission must be granted in advance unless the situation is an emergency situation. Under no circumstances may an employee incur more than 2 (two) occurrences of unexcused absences in a calendar year or 1 (one) in a one month period unless the absence is due to a work reduction. Violations of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.
(E) Unexcused Absences - An employee who fails to have authorization or has failed to notify his/her supervisor that they will not be at work is considered to have an unexcused absence and will not be paid. Three consecutive days of unexcused absence shall be considered voluntary resignation and will terminate the employee's position and accompanying benefits.
(F) Sick Days
(1) Sick days may only be used for the illness of the employee, care of one's spouse or child (under the age of 18 or as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act). Certain conditions apply in regard to the use of sick days:
(a) Any employee who misses three (3) or more consecutive work days shall be required to provide a doctor's excuse upon return to work (including if that absence is due to the care of a spouse or child). Failure to do so will result in no pay for the days missed.
(b) Sick days shall only be taken in a minimum of 1/2-day increments.
(2) An employee must work 51% of the workdays of the preceding month in order to earn a sick day for that month's service. Paid vacation is to be included in the calculation. (See “Sick Time” in the Benefits section of this handbook for additional information.)