Keeping Workers at Work: Managing Absenteeism in the Workplace
Marcia McNeil, January 31, 2011, HRVoice.org
Innocent or Blameworthy?
First, it is important to distinguish between the two major types of absences which, under the law, must be dealt with in different ways:
1) Blameworthy, or culpable, absenteeism occurs when an employee fails to attend work without a reasonable explanation. For example, an employee who sleeps through her alarm clock, or takes a sick day when she is not sick, is engaged in culpable absenteeism.
2) Innocent, or non-culpable, absenteeism occurs when an employee is, for reasons outside her control, not able to work. For example, an employee who cannot perform her duties at work due to illness or injury is absent for non-culpable reasons.
When dealing with culpable absences, the appropriate response is progressive discipline. The right disciplinary response will depend on the circumstances, including the employee’s overall employment record, length of service, the nature and severity of the incident(s), and how similar situations have been treated in the past.
More commonly, however, employers must manage innocent absenteeism. Since an innocent absence is not the fault of the employee, discipline, such as a suspension or termination, is not an appropriate response. Further, if the employee’s absences are related to a disability, the employer has an obligation under human rights law not to discriminate against the employee and to accommodate the employee’s disability, including disability-related absences, up to the point of undue hardship.
**********************************Human Rights and Employer Responsibility to Accommodate Disability in the Workplace
Jennifer Lynch, QC, October 1, 2009, HRVoice.org
The BC Human Rights Code is available at www.bchrt.gov.bc.ca
When it comes to mental illness and problem substance use in the workplace, employers and employees have both rights and responsibilities.
... employers must not discriminate on the basis of a disability or a perceived disability. Employers must make it clear that harassment in the workplace will not be tolerated. Harassment must be investigated and corrected as soon as employers become aware of it.
Every effort must be made to eradicate stigma and discrimination, because they can make a person’s experience of, and recovery from, mental illness or addiction more difficult. Stigma and discrimination can also affect a person long after the symptoms of their illness are gone.
...employers [must] do everything they can to accommodate an employee with a disability. An employee seeking accommodation must provide enough information so that the employer can understand the accommodation needed. The employer needs to know how the employee’s condition affects their work. The employee does not have to disclose information about the diagnosis, the history of the illness or its treatment.
The employer can also refuse to accommodate if providing accommodation would result in undue hardship for the organization. Health, safety and cost are factors to consider.
To prove undue hardship, an employer must show that it got information about the abilities of the employee and about the disability, and that all possible accommodations were explored.
No comments:
Post a Comment