October 2024 Iowa Q&A roundup

Q       An employee has taken 39 days off (20 days paid, 18 days unpaid, and one no-show) and is now requesting an additional three days off. We haven’t taken disciplinary action yet, but our policy requires verbal, written, and final warning discipline. If we deny their latest request but they take off anyway, what steps do we need to take to fire them?

While you aren’t required to have documentation of warnings relating to performance issues, it’s always better to provide a notice of issues. If you deny the latest request, you could indicate the employee has taken leave far in excess of your policies as the reason for denial.

If the employee takes leave anyway, that would be a clear violation of policy and your directive. The caveat is why the leave is needed. If there’s a medical issue or the possibility of a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave request, that may create different issues.

Q       An employee produced records showing previous HR personnel were improperly deducting from paid time off (PTO) and wages for partial-day absences. Should we return the PTO that was improperly deducted, or should we return all wages that were deducted?