I’m looking for guidelines on how to handle when an employee uses all of their PTO (Vacation and wellness leave) halfway through the year. We give all PTO upfront on January 1st each year; we also have other types of time off policies including weather emergencies, jury duty, parental leave, bereavement leave, sabbatical leave (7 years), etc. and offer short and long term disability insurance. We also have an unpaid leave policy that is available after one year of employment.
I’m hoping to find an example policy or guidance on how to handle an employee who has used all available paid time off by June (for medical and family care purposes; the employee has been employed less than one year). I want to balance ensuring the employee feels supported and doesn’t feel pressured to work when unwell, or stuck if something unplanned happens, with equitable policies applicable to all staff across the organization.
My group/organisation focuses on anti-human trafficking. We have a hierarchical structure. We have 13 active staff. Our staff come from diverse backgrounds and work across 11 different states in the US. Our annual income is $2M; much of that is from federal grants.
At my org we tend to try and avoid using annual leave for anything that can’t be covered by enhanced sick leave, compassionate leave, carers leave etc - could you retroactively amend some of their leave taken to come from other allowances? Is it worth reflecting on the one-year limit to accessing types of leave, including unpaid leave? I realise “equity” can be a difficult concept to apply in practice, but I think it would be more equitable to remove that tenure-based limit. I am not sure what US state/federal laws are around taking leave for caring purposes, in the UK you are entitled to one week unpaid leave for caring every 12 months.
Thank you so much for that feedback, Rosie. The year limit is something that we’ve been discussing and may look to update in the future but it does keep coming up in situations like these. It’s a good reminder!
If the leave was used due to a medical issue or a family emergency, one way to handle this is to let others know that they can donate accrued PTO to the impacted person. It’s common to require that an employee be on staff at least a year to be able to access donated time.
Other policy elements that can be helpful:
The donation of sick/personal time is strictly voluntary.
The donation of sick/personal time is on an hourly basis, without regard to the dollar value of the donated or used leave.
The maximum number of sick/personal hours that an eligible employee may donate is 40 hours or no more than 50 percent of the employee’s current balance.
Employees cannot borrow against future sick/personal time to donate.
Employees who are currently on an approved leave of absence cannot donate sick/personal time.
That is helpful, Jovida! Thank you so much for getting back to me, and for your suggestions!
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