Legal Question in Employment Law in New Jersey
Sick time
My employer includes sick time as a factor in the yearly bonus program. They tout it as an incentive for those who use zero sick days, but in fact anyone who uses one or more sick days gets a reduced bonus. If your sick time is in conjunction with FMLA, your bonus is protected.
Also, they have recently begun an initiative to reduce abuse of sick time. A report was run that shows every single employees sick time year to date, and this report was shared with all the Department Directors, so that they could identify 'patterns of abuse.' I was presented with a list of my sick time during my mid year evaluation, and when I questioned it, I was told that there are no consequences, I was just being made aware of the time that I took.
In my opinion, both of these practices are wrong. They send the message that people should not be using their sick time, and that people should come to work when sick or they will be penalized.
Aren't people entitled to use their sick time without being penalized, unless there is a clear pattern of abuse?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Sick time
Reviewing what you wrote, I am unable see anything that is per se illegal. A company doesn't have to give a bonus plan at all, so there is nothing stopping them from placing certain restrictions on when an employee will achieve it. It is illegal to fire or demote an employee based on the fact that they have a disability, but the facts that you mention do not even come close to that. The only issue which I see which might inpinge on your rights is a right to privacy with regard to the sharing of days that a particular employee may be sick and any repercussions which may arise out of the company's use of those numbers. I would advise you to contact an employment law attorney to sit down with you and go over your policies. It could be that their current practices are in violation of their own written policies.
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