late to work

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late to work

I have several employees that are late to work on a regular basis. Is there a certian amount of time that I have to allow them? For example I have had a employee late 38 times since May and 18 times they were late more than 5 minutes. Thanks

Asked on August 10, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Indiana

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 7 years ago | Contributor

Are there any union/collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts that cover this type of situation? Does taking action in this situation constitute some form of legally actionable discrimination? If not, then your employees are "at will" workers. This means that you can set the conditions of employment much as you see fit. This includes enforcing report times to work. If you choose, you can take disciplinary action (i.e. reducing wages /hours, suspensions, terminations, etc.) as you deem necessary or appropriate.

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 7 years ago | Contributor

No...assuming the employees do not have employment contracts which give them some "grace period" before they have to be at work, or limits the reasons they can be terminated (and being late is not one of those reasons), or lays out some process or procedure for discipline which must be followed, then you can discipline these employees the very first time they at late all, even by a minute or two, or else discipline them any time you have had enough. That discipline can be anything up to and including termination, or it could be some lesser sanction, like reducing pay or hours, suspending, demoting, etc. Without an employment contract, employees are employees at will, and that means (among other things) that the employer may take any actions about lateness that it wants, whenever it wants.


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