In cases of excused absence, the employer has granted the employee permission to stay away from work during normal working hours. Excused absences may include leave such as leave.
Find out what counts as an excused absence and why it is important to schedule this in advance.
It is important for your business to develop – and enforce – a strong absenteeism policy. By identifying unexcused absences and implementing procedures to notify supervisors of an unexpected absence, you can help maintain productivity and morale in your workplace, according to West Sound Workforce. You can also better fight an unemployment insurance claim for a terminated employee if you can demonstrate that she has a pattern of violating the company’s absenteeism policy.
In individual cases, the provisions of this Directive allow the approval officer to grant excused absences subject to any restrictions imposed by the operating unit or as stipulated in this manual (for example, state of emergency, blood donation, etc.). Each operating unit should define procedures for accepting excused absence for groups of employees.
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Excused absence may be granted to rare and brief participation in civic, national or community activities that are recognized and punished for the presence of employees of all agencies. Examples of these activities include watching a parade, welcoming visiting dignitaries, attending dedication or public ceremonies, and similar events. Participation in these types of activities is usually encouraged by the White House or Minister by means of public announcement. Civic, national, and societal activities that are not penalized for employee participation at the government level are not covered by excused absences. Absences approved for these purposes must be charged to annual leave, credit hours, compensatory time, or unpaid leave, as applicable.
How does excused absence work?
In most cases, you’ll let your manager know you’d like to take time off, how much, and when. Let them know why you need to be absent.
In some situations out of your control, such as a sudden illness or accident, you may not be able to send notice in advance. However, contact your employer as soon as possible to arrange leave, at least before scheduling your shift. If you cannot make the call, have someone else do so.
If you do not seek (and receive) permission from your supervisor to be absent from work, your employer may consider your vacation time an unexcused absence. Employees who violate company policy regarding notification of lost work and / or termination of their service may be warned by the company. Therefore, it is in your best interest to obtain permission in advance before being absent.
For example, if you plan to take time off work for an out-of-state wedding, follow your employer’s policy to request leave. Order today in advance, so your supervisor has time to rearrange work schedules if needed. Get the request and approval in writing so you have the documents that followed the procedure. If your employee handbook contains any other instructions for taking an excused leave, be sure to follow them. You may be required to use personal leave for this absence, so be sure to track it appropriately.
Types of excused absence
- Personal leave
- Sick leave
- Bereavement Leave
- Jury duty
- Leave to vote
- Leave for school activities
How to get an excused absence
Excused absence is the scheduled or unscheduled leave from work that occurs when an employee is not present at work during a naturally scheduled work period. An excused absence is defined as follows:
- Pre-scheduled with an employee’s manager or supervisor.
- The employee notifies the employer before his scheduled shift in case of emergency or unexpected illness.
- The employee provides a plausible reason when returning to work, often with evidence to support the reason for losing their job.
- Events that cannot be scheduled outside of normal business hours. This includes vacations, medical appointments, military service, family activities, surgery, jury duty, funerals, and more.
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Difference Between Excused and Unexcused Employee Absenteeism
Unexcused Employee Absenteeism
An unexcused absence is an absence that has not been previously determined or authorized by an employee’s supervisor, according to US law. In some cases, unexcused absence may be the result of inevitable circumstances, such as a death in the family or a sudden illness.
In other cases, the employee may decide not to show up for work because he wants a “day off” without prior arrangements or because he has exhausted his personal days. Your employee handbook should outline the acceptable reasons for an unexcused absence and instruct employees in the appropriate manner to notify their supervisor that they will not be coming to work.
Excused Employee Absenteeism
In the event of excused absence, the employee obtains prior permission from her supervisor to not be at work. Reasons for absenteeism vary with an employer’s excuse, but often include funerals, scheduled surgeries, and days off. Your absence policy should list the reasons for which a person may request an excused absence and the process for doing so.
Why excused absence is important
According to the company’s guidelines and procedures, even employees who have a paid leave policy or vacation days, sick days etc., provided by the company, are required to schedule a vacation time in advance. This allows the manager to plan for covering the work in the employee’s absence.
Absence coverage is very easy to do when an employee’s work is knowledge-based rather than a customer-facing or production role. For this reason, managers often have to arrange leave requests to ensure that work runs smoothly and that enough employees are available to work every day.
In the case of exempt or salaried employees, excused absences are not part of the discussion as these employees are expected to fully perform their job regardless of their attendance. Hence, the hours and days of their attendance at work are rarely tracked. A training session will occur with their manager if the employee fails to attend work according to the committed schedule or fails to meet expectations due to insufficient time spent in getting the work done.
