What is one of the key ways to promote good attendance? For many employers, it is by implementing a perfect attendance award bonus for employees who work for a month or a quarter without missing any scheduled work days. However, while perfect attendance bonuses may seem like the perfect answer for promoting good attendance, various employment law protections make the implementation of these awards risky and can create potential liability for employers.
For instance, suppose an employer provides a perfect attendance bonus to an employee even though they miss work due to a scheduled vacation. Or maybe the employer awards the bonus to an employee even though they missed work for jury duty. However, under the same bonus policy, an employee who takes an unscheduled "sick" day or otherwise has to miss work because of a military or personal leave is disqualified from receiving the bonus. Is the employer at risk of a lawsuit?
Possibly so.
In recent cases, for example, courts have held that employees taking military leave must be afforded the same "rights and benefits" as employees taking comparable non-military leaves. Thus, as to perfect attendance awards, an employer must pay a perfect attendance bonus to an employee taking military leave if the employer pays the bonus to employees who miss work for jury duty or bereavement leave. Some recent court cases have gone so far as to conclude that military employees were even entitled to regular pay during a military leave of absence...
According to a BBC undercover investigation, unregulated immigration advisors are allegedly encouraging people to make false claims of domestic abuse to secure their right to stay in the UK. Right...