Plant Services - August 2007 - (Page 57) IN THE TRENCHES The scenario presented here is based on a true story; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. For love or money Acme uncovers a case of predictable disability S ummer is the wrong time to be indoors working for the man. That motto says everything you need to know about the corporate culture at the old Acme plant. Think heavy industry – hot, dusty, noisy. It’s no wonder employees there have raised hooky to an art form. And, the man continues to think he knows what’s going down. Like most companies, Acme has two main forms of paid time off – vacation and disability leave. Full-time exempt employees become eligible for both after they’ve been with the company for 91 calendar days. Anyone wanting to take some vacation time must submit properly countersigned vacation request forms, in triplicate, to the scheduling department. Getting one’s supervisor to sign the forms isn’t difficult, as most supervisors spend a good part of each day signing all manner of paperwork necessary to grease the wheels of industry in this near-Paleolithic plant. After a few months of writer’s cramp, most supervisors no longer pay close attention to what they’re signing. Then, after due consideration and sufficient delay, the scheduling department grants vacation time on the basis of seniority, which determines both the amount of time granted and exactly when it can be used. Disability leave, on the other hand, requires an employee to have a doctor submit a letter, in triplicate, to the HR department to certify that the employee is indeed disabled and, This case isn’t about office romance… this case is about the manipulative, deceitful behavior of one individual. more importantly, unable to work. Employees who qualify for disability leave automatically qualify for FMLA leave, as long as both leaves run concurrently. Ever since that night shift they met on the plant floor, Shirley Eugeste and Ken Nelkopf have been a couple. They consistently try to arrange reasonably identical vacation schedules. Simultaneity, though, is nearly impossible because Ken, with 30-plus years of seniority, generally has no difficulty getting his choices approved without question. Although Shirley requests the same weeks, having only six August 2007 years on the job, she finds herself in competition with many other short-tenure employees, all of whom want the best vacation schedules. In the last round of Acme’s vacation lottery, Ken got approval for his five preferred week-long vacation periods because he was clever enough to spread them over the year. Shirley was granted only one of the three weeks to which she was entitled. But, it matched one on Ken’s schedule. With a sense of overwhelming love and affection, Shirley requested a one-month disability leave that overlapped the two one-week vacations that were denied her through the scheduling department, the same two weeks that Ken would be on vacation. And, the HR department granted Shirley’s medical leave well in advance of when it was to commence. It was a full day after Shirley started her medical leave that the paperwork from HR reached the desk of Lee Vyjeens, Shirley’s supervisor. Initially, Lee thought the paperwork merely explained why Shirley was absent yesterday and today. But then she realized two things. First, Shirley would be out for the next four weeks and, second, the dates of this medical leave encompassed the dates Shirley requested for vacation time earlier in the year. This curiosity jogged Lee’s memory. She checked her records from the previous year and noticed that Shirley was on disability leave that year, too, and for the same reason, an ankle injury sustained while exercising on a treadmill. And, like this year, the disability leave corresponded to one of Shirley’s requested, but denied, vacation leaves. 57 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.plantservices.com/voices/in_the_trenches.html http://www.PlantServices.com
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