Jim has a chronic condition which causes him to miss large periods of time intermittently. He has applied for and been granted FMLA leave to cover all these absences. Your boss brings you a report that shows a report that Jim has missed over 12 weeks due to illness in the last 12 months. She tells you that the company can’t continue to hold a job for someone who is essentially a part time employee. It’s late December and you know that if Jim works one day in the new year his sick pay bank will be reinstated. He’s off work currently and your boss asks why the company should allow him to return after January 1 and get three weeks of sick pay to which employees are entitled every year. She says you need to make a decision and take action to deal with Jim’s attendance. What do you do?1. Define precisely what the problem is in terms of how it affects the company and your ability to be successful as a supervisor or HR person. If it involves two or more employees, be sure to view the problem from the perspective all of involved.Cases will have limited information and it may be necessary for you to fill in the blanks in some situations.2. Define any assumptions you make. For example, is it a large company or a small company? Is this a new employee or a long term employee? Does the employee have a history of misconduct or an exemplary record?3. Define the steps you will take to address the issue. List them in the sequence that you will do them and any other resources, such as the HR department or your boss, that you will use to resolve the problem.4. Define what your expectations are for the employee moving forward and how you will monitor his/her progress in meeting those expectations.5. Explain how you will know if your efforts are successful and what you will do if they aren’t.
