Calling in Sick or Tardy

PTO is “sick pay”

PTO is designed to cover absences for any reason; there is no separate “sick pay.” If you are out sick, any accrued PTO must be used to make up sick time taken until exhausted. Any sick days taken once PTO is exhausted will be unpaid regardless of your employment status.

Exempt employees

Exempt employees are not required to take PTO for partial days’ absences due to illness (although if the absence is for personal reasons or vacation, PTO will be allowed in 4-hour increments). Hourly employees must take PTO for any hours less than 40 that are worked in any workweek. If your standard schedule is less than 40 hours per week, you must take PTO for any hours less than your standard schedule.

You must notify your supervisor

When you realize that you are not going to come to work because you are sick or are going to come in more than 30 minutes late for some reason, you must call in on the back line, which is 619-299-1588, before your scheduled start time (no later than 9:30am for Estate Buyers) and personally speak to your supervisor.

You may also send a text or email to your supervisor; however, you must get a confirmation that your text/email was received, i.e. get a response before your scheduled start time of 10:00am. If you do not get a response before your scheduled start time of 10:00am, then you must call by phone.

It is important that you speak to or contact your supervisor. Only he/she knows what is on the schedule in your department for the day and what if any information is needed from you to get the day’s tasks accomplished in your absence (or if you are not sick but just requesting some hours off, whether or not they can spare you for those hours).

If your supervisor is not going to be at work that day, only then you may speak to the Director of Human Resources instead. For example, it would not be acceptable to call at 9:30am and then decide that since your supervisor is not in yet, that you need only speak to HR. Instead, wait to call at 9:55am when your supervisor will be there to speak to you.

It is not acceptable to call, text, or email another coworker, or to leave a message for your supervisor or anyone else on the company voice mail. If you do so, you will get 1-1/2 incidents just as if you had never called in at all.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the phone numbers for your supervisor and for Dir HR so that you can contact one of them on Monday in the event that you won’t be able to call before your scheduled start time on Tuesday of 10:00am. If you are calling someone at home on Monday, it is sufficient to leave a message on voice mail; you don’t have to keep calling until you reach someone personally. However if you text or email, you must still receive a confirmation before your scheduled start time on Tuesday of 10:00am.

Estate Buyers exception!

Estate Buyers who are going to be absent or more than 30 minutes tardy must call or contact their supervisor or the COO no later than 9:30am so that arrangements can be made for someone else to cover that remote buy office. If Estate Buyers choose to email or text, they must have confirmation that the message was received before 9:30am; otherwise, they must call before 9:30am.

If you are absent without notifying your supervisor

If you don’t contact either your supervisor or Dir HR (or if neither one is available then any Executive of the company) before your scheduled start time of 10:00am then your absence will be considered unauthorized and you will accrue 1-1/2 incidents per the tardiness/absence policy. Also note that the employee handbook states:

“If you are absent for two days without notifying the company, it is assumed that you have voluntarily terminated your position with the company and unless a reasonable excuse is offered to and accepted by Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers, you will be removed from the payroll.”

$100 FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE

If you are not absent due to illness even one day during any entire anniversary year (from your date of hire through the next 365 days, then from that one-year anniversary through the next 365 days, etc.), you will earn a $100 bonus. In addition, for each consecutive year that you are not absent due to illness for even one day, the bonus will increase by $50. So the second year would be $150 and the third year would be $200, etc.

Submit a CSW to HR to receive the bonus. Note that if you come to work and then leave early because you are sick, then you are absent due to illness and are not eligible for this bonus.

Please see your Employee Handbook and the Tardiness and Absenteeism policy for other rules regarding tardiness and absenteeism.