The children are back in school, the leaves are changing and football is here.
That means that the holiday season is right around the corner. To avoid mistakes — and lawsuits — and to manage expectations, employers should put plans in place right away.
Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah, there will be many opportunities to set expectations and make sure that the organization is making the right choices for the benefit of everyone.
To avoid legal and morale issues, employers should avoid telling employees without children that they should work late on Halloween or those who are Jewish that they have to work Christmas.
I frequently hear complaints from those without children that they are expected to work every holiday, under the assumption that because they don’t have children, they should sacrifice. I also hear from those who are not Christian that they are told to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because they don’t celebrate the holiday.
If an employee asks for Christmas Day as a reasonable accommodation, employers should provide the accommodation if possible, but trade that day with one that other employees might not want to work, such as Thanksgiving. Ideally, there is a fair way to accommodate everyone’s needs.
In doing so, employers need to set an objective and nondiscriminatory process for determining days off. It can be based on voluntary selection, seniority, a lottery — whatever is objective and fair.
Employers also need to establish consequences for those who fail to work their scheduled time. An employee who, for example, requests, in advance, a day off but is denied the leave request, who then calls out sick should suffer greater consequences, and these consequences should be established long before the holiday.
Employees also should be required to provide a doctor’s note if they call out sick for the scheduled day. Employers need to tell employees to plan in advance for child care in the event of a sick child, advising employees that taking that time off due to a sick child will not be an excused absence.
In exchange, employers should make it more preferable to work on the holidays.
There has been much discussion about retailers opening on Thanksgiving, but there will be plenty of employees who are happy to work in the afternoon after their family meal if they are getting a special bonus or higher hourly rate to do so.
Again, employers must lay out these benefits and expectations early on.
In addition, as we get into the winter holidays, the weather can be a factor. Like with other inclement weather issues, essential employees need to plan in advance for how they will get to work in the event of inclement weather.
If inclement weather is expected, employers at emergency personnel jobs like police dispatch, hospitals, hotels and nursing homes should work with their employees to provide housing nearby if necessary so that the employee can get to work.
Setting a clear policy, ideally by Oct. 15, for attendance during the holidays is essential to managing expectations and making sure that all involved understand the consequences for failure to adhere to the schedule.