Tardiness

Submitted by Stephen Kight

Occasionally we bring staff’s attention to different policies, to ensure that all employees have a complete understanding of them.  We’ve learned that there is some confusion over our policy of tardiness.  Please take a few minutes to review section G-8 in the Personnel Policy Manual, which discusses Attendance Issues—Absence & Tardiness. 

The policy states that “a ‘tardiness’ will be considered to have occurred when an employee reports to work one (1) minute after the scheduled time to start work or return from a break.” Although it is understood that employees may occasionally be tardy due to circumstances outside of their control, repeatedly being late for work is a performance issue.

What might be confusing is that we round timesheets to the nearest quarter hour.  So if an employee is scheduled to start work at 8:00 and arrives at 8:07, they would enter 8:07 on the timesheet calculator but the work time is calculated from 8:00.  (If the employee had arrived at 8:08 and entered 8:08 on the timesheet calculator, the work time is calculated from 8:15.) 

It is important to understand that, although tardiness affects timesheets and pay, it is a separate performance issue.  Employees do not have a 7-minute grace period in which to arrive to work.  They are expected to be ready to work at the time they are assigned.  In the example above, while the employee was paid beginning at 8:00, they were 7 minutes tardy.

If you have any questions about this policy, please talk with your supervisor.