Your Leaves Are An Asset

 

If you’re like me, and I’m probably the worst example, you’ve had jobs that offered leave time and you’ve never investigated it. I’ve accrued time, used time, contributed to catastrophic leave and never gave my leave time much thought outside of that. As an educator, leaves combined with school vacations and non-workdays can be a confusing mess even when you pay attention to it. Until recently, I took the easy route and just ignored it. In this article I’ll share with you some of what I’ve learned. Leave time is an important incentive for job hunters and should be considered before making the leap into any job. How is it distributed to employees? Which leaves does the employer offer? If you’ve ever had an entry level service position then you’ve had jobs that didn’t offer leaves, if you’ve read about CEO packages then you know how generous some organizations can be with leave time; paid and unpaid. The Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the need for protection of employee wages, workday and child labor.

In 1937, workers at Republican Steel and General Motors in Michigan, fed up with low pay and long hours solicited the advice of John L. Lewis, President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) who ordered a series of strikes. Lewis, aware of the violence associated with typical strikes employed a new tool, the “sit down” strike tactic where you would sit down at the end of your shift and respectfully refuse to continue. That year 10 people were killed during a bitter strike in South Chicago by police who were defending the property of Goodyear Tires. Sit downs were a peaceful protest meant to stem bloody consequences for union activity. In Michigan, GM and Republican Steel were contesting the sit downs in court, seeking a court ordered injunction against the sit downs. When that did not work, organizations responded to sit downs with violence. In 1938, Senator Hugo Black of Alabama drafted a law and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which put a floor on salary and a ceiling on work hours. Later FLSA would expand to establish leaves and leave time, and would also protect these leaves for employees.

Most labor agreements (usually referred to as ‘the contract’) have a section labeled ‘Leaves’ that lays out the leaves offered by your employer and how they are typically applied in a given organization and how you access them. One of the labor contracts I usually keep on my person (I know, I’m a labor nerd) has a 12 page section on Leaves of Absence. That section details every leave and defines which situation calls for each one to be used. Most disputes around leaves relate to employees who don’t use them properly. Some companies have a culture of taking time off without prior approval by the supervisor. I have a friend who says, “That system works till it doesn’t” then all hell breaks loose. Taking time without prior approval is a contract violation in most organizations and everyone or anyone can be targeted for it. Usually, when an employee is called on it, they are surprised and offended because this past practice has mostly gone ignored. When called out, the employee looks around, feels targeted and fights. For this reason, it’s important for employers/bosses to be consistent in the fair application of contractual rules.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays. These benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee (or employee’s representative), this is the purpose of prior approval, and the employer can deny the use of your earned time and not pay you for time not worked. As much as possible, get prior approval prior to taking any time away from work. There are four general types of leave offered to employees from two types of leaves accrued with your employer. Specific employers may offer more but usually you accrue paid vacation time and unpaid personal and FMLA. While personal leave and FMLA leave are unpaid some employers do allow employees to use earned leave in these instances. Yes, FMLA is unpaid leave. Leaves such as bereavement and jury duty are fixed, not accrued and rules for accessing them vary from one organization to the next.

The most important rule to remember when it comes to leaves is to tell your supervisor before you use it. Of course there will be instances where circumstances won’t permit prior approval, most people understand that. In those cases, employers consider the employee. Are you the employee who has a catastrophic event in their lives every Friday or emergencies happen in such a way that it coincides with a local jazz festival? That catches up with everyone eventually so don’t risk it. Be open, you’ve earned the time, it’s there for you to use, the employer offers it as an incentive for you to take the job so use it. Employers have to manage leave times as some organizations have caps on the amount of time you can have on the books. For this reason, and its just good for your mental health, organizations encourage employees to take time off for family and relaxation. Fair application and use of leave time should be the goal for every employee in every organization, master that and you will SOAR!

 

William A. Brown

September 15, 2019

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave