Employees High at Work, Vacation Requests, and Frequent Absences

How do I address employee substance abuse?

Question: I have a sneaking suspicion one of my employees is smoking weed before work. Sometimes they come in and smell strongly of smoke, and they seem distracted. Can I write them up without actual “proof”? Recreational weed is legal in my state, but I don’t think that means that it’s okay for employees to come to work high.

We get versions of this question a lot. A LOT. 

• My employee’s clothes smell like marijuana 
  
• I heard a rumor that my employee has a drink at lunch 
  
• I think my employee is taking painkillers throughout the day 
  

Your immediate action step is to stop someone from working if you think they’re impaired. What to do next and what to say to the employee can depend on a lot of factors. 

Handling these situations  can get very complicated, so much so that we created a guide to help you navigate this topic. We’ve made this available to all of you, even if you aren’t a CEDR Solution Center Member: Substance Use and the Workplace

CEDR Members, access the guide within our member portal, backstageHR, here! 

Is it okay for vacation to put employees past 40 hours in a week?

Question: An employee requested to use six hours of vacation to take a long weekend. It was approved, but when I was doing payroll, I realized they had already worked 35 hours that week, and using six hours would put them at 41 hours for the week, so I only applied five hours of vacation time. The employee is upset they were “shorted” one hour, but I was trying to avoid paying unapproved overtime. How should this be handled?

The legal side: Paid time off, such as vacation or sick leave, is not considered hours worked. That means that the employee was never entitled to overtime since their worked hours, 35, stayed under 40. The vacation hours pushing the total paid hours over 40 don’t create an overtime obligation. 

CEDR Payroll and Timekeeping systems are programmed to account for those rules, so this is not something CEDR members ever have to track or adjust for. Overtime is only applied if the time worked goes over 40 hours in a workweek (or over 8 hours in one day in some states).

In other words, your main legal concern here is whether overtime is owed, and in this case, it is not. The bigger question is how your internal policies handle situations like this and whether they are applied consistently.

The human side: Once time off is requested and approved, it’s generally best to honor that approval as-is. In this situation, that means paying the full six hours, even if it brings the employee to 41 total paid hours for the week. Changing it after the fact is what caused the employee’s frustration. 

If the employee was asking for 6 vacation hours to be applied to missing a 6-hour work shift, then the 6 vacation hours are appropriate to be paid. 

There is a difference if this were a situation where an employee is trying to use paid time off to cover time they were never scheduled to work in the first place. In those cases, you are not required to allow them to use vacation time to effectively pay themselves for additional hours.

Employers generally have a lot of discretion over how time off benefits can be used, so if this is something you want to prevent altogether moving forward, this is a chance to clarify your policy. Note that some states have stricter requirements when it comes to paid time off, so we strongly suggest working with an HR expert to make sure your policy is compliant.

How do I talk to an employee about the frequent absences?

Question: One of my new hires is a perfect fit for the role, but I’m worried about attendance. They’ve missed multiple days in the short time that they’ve been employed. How should I approach this with them? When they’re here, they’re great, so I don’t want them to think the problem is their work, but I need to make it clear that continued absences will be an issue. 

The legal side: You can enforce attendance expectations as long as they comply with state and local laws. Be mindful that several states now have mandatory sick leave laws, which may or may not protect certain absences – even for new employees. If the time off falls under protected sick leave, you generally cannot address those absences.

You also want to be mindful of what comes up during your conversation. If the employee shares that their absences are related to a medical condition, that can shift this into an accommodation discussion, depending on your employee count and location. In that case, you may need to pause the disciplinary approach and engage in the interactive process.

The human side: If you have a written attendance policy in your handbook (which you should) and the employee acknowledged it, that is your foundation.

Make it clear to the employee that you’re happy with their work quality, but you need to be able to rely on them to be at the office when they’re supposed to be. The concern is reliability. Be specific about what you’ve observed and the impact it has. 

For example, “We are happy with the work you do while you’re here. However, you’ve missed X days in your first X weeks, and this role requires consistent coverage. When someone is out, especially in a small business, others have to step in, and it affects workflow.”

Let them know you need them to be present and reliable moving forward. If this is the first time you are addressing it, a documented verbal warning is appropriate. If the behavior continues, move through your corrective coaching steps.

Also, give them a chance to respond. It’s possible they don’t realize the impact, or there may be something going on that needs to be addressed differently. Either way, having the conversation now sets the tone and gives them an opportunity to improve before the issue escalates.

Make sure you document each step, including verbal warnings. CEDR’s backstageHR software makes this easy by allowing you to leave a confidential note about the conversation in the employee’s file. You can learn more about our software here.