6.2. ERMUSR 04-12-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sick leave is a privilege, and misuse may result in disciplinary action. Medical confirmations by licensed medical personnel may be asked for by the Utilities. Employees are required to notify their immediate supervisor at least thirty (30) minutes prior to the start of their regular working hours if they intend to be absent from work. If an emergency prevents the employee from notifying his/her super- visor at such time, the employee is expected to call as soon as possible during the work day. Employees are also required to keep their supervisors informed of their condition and anticipated return to work. Past practice at the Elk River Municipal Utilities indicates paid sick leave can be taken in the case of sickness of employee, spouse or child, and does not include parents. Minnesota law requires paid sick leave for employee and child only, spouse and parents are optional (Sick Child Care Leave Act). The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provide eligible employees unpaid leave in case of illness for employee, along with spouse, child and parent with serious health conditions. There is no legal requirement to include parents under the paid sick leave policy and it is at the employers' discretion. I have had a number of discussions with our employees concerning sick leave is a privilege, as our policy suggests and not an entitlement. Some employees view this benefit as an entitlement. I am finding it more of a generation issue where the older employees consider it a privilege where the younger employees consider it more of an entitlement. We must also keep in mind the following items. 1) We are still a relatively small company (34 employees) and employees being away from work affects the remaining employees, for much of our work has deadlines. 2) We compensate our employees for unused sick leave, thus hopefully minimizing the amount of sick leave used. 3) Unused or accrued sick leave is the bridge to disability insurance in case of off duty injury not covered by workers compensation insurance. 4) To avoid this discussion all together, many companies have gone to a paid time off (PTO) scenario, where vacation and sick leave are combined (with a reduction in overall time off) and the employee can take it off at their discretion. 5) Although I have not actually surveyed this issue, our insurance consultants' feeling is generally parents are not included as a reason for employees to use sick leave. 6) Some policies, including the City of Elk River, allow employees to utilize sick leave for dependants. A dependant is living under your roof and included on income taxes as a dependent. Do you have any strong feelings on this issue? The dependent approach may be a good compromise to this issue. Attached is a recent newspaper article on calling in sick.