I’ve had my business for almost 20 years and I haven’t come across this yet. I have an employee who’s been with me for about five years. For the most part he is good. He is a salaried employee and gets three weeks of paid vacation.
He recently injured himself outside of work and wasn’t able to perform the physical tasks that his job requires. He took three weeks off to rest, attend doctors appointments and physical therapy. He also took one of his vacation weeks earlier in the year. I had given him a full salary throughout the time he was unable to work. Now he has two weeks of vacation left and has put in a request for one of them.
Do you think it’s unreasonable to ask that he give up one or both of those weeks considering I paid him for the three weeks he wasn’t here?
Let him take it as unpaid vacation since he has already used up his PTO.
Good chance he’ll resent you for it and not look at it the same way you do. I’d eat the week but tell him no more until next year.
Lawyer.
fMLA laws are complex.
Technically speaking I’d be inclined to say he’s used his vacation time when he was laid up. But as the other commenter said, if he doesn’t see it your way you’ll have a cancer on the crew. He obviously doesn’t understand the time off policy and it doesn’t sound like it’s been crystal clear either. I’d probably try visiting with him and coming to an agreement on it- a reasonable person wouldn’t expect to be out of work laid up and just get paid for 3 weeks.
What you haven’t stated whether it’s “vacation” or “PTO”.
15 days of PTO at 5 years is pretty slim especially if you don’t have separate sick time.
It’s also wrong for you to try to go back on him, that was a conversation that needed to occur at the event, not a month/six months after.
He gets the 15 days plus we don’t have a specific time off policy. Anytime somebody needs a day they take it and they get paid for it. I will also say that the five days a week that he does work two of them are from home and he maybe works 30 hours a week. The reason it wasn’t discussed because at first we thought he’d be out a few days then it turned into a week and he had it looked at, and it turned into three weeks. When he finally did come back, I modified his role to make it less physical, and also had another employee help. I’m going to try and negotiate with him and see what he thinks is fair. If anything, I can stretch it out and give him a few extra days next year. We are very busy during the holidays, so I like to have all hands on deck.
we don’t have a specific time off policy
Now is the time to implement and and consider a lesson learned. Going back on an employee is wrong no matter how you justify it to yourself and is a quick way to lose an employee (or more if they also feel you screw him over).
The correct thing to do would’ve been to put him on short term disability/leave (whatever it’s called). Too late to ask him to use the vacation days for his past injury, you will likely only upset your employee by doing this.
Federal FMLA is here for this reason, if you talk to your state’s employment security department, they’ll help you navigate it.
If you didn’t make your policy clear that’s on you and I guess you’ll have to eat it. However it does sound like if in his contract he has three weeks off and he’s already taken those three weeks he doesn’t have any PTO left. I would just carefully review the contract and let him know that he has taken three weeks paid off this year already and as outlined in his contract that is the total amount of time that he gets. If you’re willing offer to let him take off the additional week unpaid.
Do you have benefits? Do they have short term disability? It won’t be helpful for this situation, but good to know for the next time.
If you didn’t set expectations at the beginning of paying him for his time off it’s hard to walk it back. It’s a tough spot but if I were you I would take it on the chin for the 3 weeks paid and lay it out going forward.
No, it’s not unreasonable to ask, nor is it unreasonable for him to expect the remaining two weeks, if that wasn’t discussed when you offered to pay him through his rehab.
I feel like that should have been medical leave or family leave. Or unpaid time off if he doesn’t want to use a vacation week. Not sure the legalize around leave tho and what you offer