ABSENTEEISM CONTROL POLICY. (1) The Company and the Union have established the following policy to apply to hourly employees. This policy shall be applied equally to all employees without regard to race, religion, sex, age, or national origin and will be administered by all supervisors.
(2) Attendance is a very important responsibility of a West Hershey team member. Excessive absenteeism makes the team member a liability to the team and the operation. The goal on attendance is to achieve an overall West Hershey Plant absentee rate of 1% or less.
(3) Team members will be subject to the disciplinary process when their rate of absenteeism exceeds sixty (60) hours for eight (8) hour shifts or sixty-six (66) hours for twelve (12) hour shifts.
(i) During the previous rolling year, if an employee had any extended absence or layoff (voluntary or involuntary) that exceeded thirty (30) consecutive calendar days, the following exception procedure will apply: Determine the total number of calendar days for all extended absences or layoffs in the previous rolling year. Based on that number, go back in the employee’s attendance history a similar time frame (e.g., 2-month absence equals 2-month additional history) to achieve a twelve (12) month history to determine the number of hours of absenteeism.
(4) For team members working an eight (8) hour schedule the absence policy maximum absences are 60 hours in 250 workdays. Twelve hour shift schedule maximum is 66 hours in 182 workdays.
(5) Absences will be counted in hours: two days for an eight hour schedule equals 16 hours absence, two days for 12 hours equals 24 hours absence. Exception will be for absences of four (4) or more consecutive scheduled work days which will count as one shift absence with proper medical certification of absence. Team members will be required to provide to the supervisor a doctor’s medical certification of absence for any personal illness/injury lasting four (4) or more consecutive scheduled workdays.
(6) Hours of absence less than the full scheduled shift will be recorded against the 60/66 hour maximum. This will include absences such as personal appointments, emergency calls, personal illness or any other partial day absences. Exception will be two partial days covered in the wage continuance agreement. Employee(s) will have two incidents per calendar year consisting of hours that equal less than one half of their scheduled shift that will not count toward the calculation of their yearly absence or wage continuance per...
