Paid Time Off

All Employees

We believe that regular periods of time off from work are necessary in order for employees to rest, recharge their energy, and spend time with family.  For that reason, all full-time employees are eligible to accrue PTO (Paid Time Off).

PTO is taken by the non-exempt employee for any reason that the employee will be absent from work during their normally scheduled hours and wishes to be paid for that time, including personal or family illness, vacation, medical appointments or treatments, and any absence for personal reasons.  Pre-planned PTO can be taken in 1-hour increments. 

Exempt employees are required to use PTO to cover partial day absences for personal reasons of 4 hours or more, with the exception of time away for medical reasons (illness, medical appointments, or treatments) in which case time will only be charged if the absence spans a full day.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

All regular full-time employees are eligible to accrue PTO.  Part time, temporary, flexible schedule, or contract employees are not eligible to accrue PTO. Any new employee or rehired former employee will begin to accrue PTO immediately and will be eligible to take PTO as it accrues. 

ACCRUAL RATES

The accrual rate increases are based on the employee’s length of service and occur on the employment anniversary date.  Accrual rates are as follows:

• 1^st year of employment the accrual rate = 80 hours (10 days)
  • starts at month 0 – accruing .03846 per hour/ 1.54 per week
• 2^nd year of employment the accrual rate = 96 hours (12 days)
  • starts at month 13 – accruing .04615 per hour/ 1.85 per week
• 3^rd year of employment the accrual rate = 112 hours (14 days)
  • starts at month 25 – accruing .05384 per hour/ 2.15 per week
• 4^th year of employment the accrual rate = 128 hours (16 days)
  • starts at month 37 – accruing .06153 per hour/ 2.46 per week
• 5^th year of employment the accrual rate = 144 hours (18 days)
  • starts at month 49 – accruing .06923 per hour/ 2.77 per week

PTO is accrued weekly with the payroll cycle and for non-exempt employees is based on the number of hours worked in that week.  For example during the first year of employment, PTO is accrued at the rate of 1.54 hours per 40 hours of work.  That works out to 80 hours or 2 weeks per year if the employee has worked a full year.  If fewer than 40 hours are worked in a week (including PTO hours taken), then the accrual will be fewer than 1.54 hours for that week.

Employees will earn PTO for scheduled hours when absent from work in connection with paid time away from work: PTO, holidays, paid leave of absence, bereavement leave, and jury duty.  Employees will not earn PTO for scheduled hours when absent from work in connection with: excused or unexcused absences without pay, including unpaid leaves of absence, worker’s compensation leaves, or long-term disability leaves.

PTO accrual is capped at a maximum of 250 hours; once the cap is reached, no more PTO will accrue until enough hours are taken to reduce the accrued hours under the cap.  We offer no provision for cashing out accrued PTO hours with the exception of employees that are terminating their employment with the company.

PTO IS A PRIVILEGE

PTO is a privilege and not an absolute right; be sure to follow the proper procedure for requesting time off before assuming it will be granted.  See “PTO CSW for Time Off” policy for information on how to request PTO.

FORMER EMPLOYEES

Former employees who are being hired again must complete the 90-day introductory period before accrual begins but once that period is complete, their previous time of service will be used to determine their accrual rate going forward.  For example if an employee had worked here for 3 years at some time in the past, they would start accruing at the 96-hours-per-year rate immediately.

If an employee already has approved PTO scheduled, and then has to use PTO pay for unforeseen circumstances (such as being out sick) and don’t have enough left to cover the pre-scheduled time off, the time off can still be taken, but it will be unpaid time off.

Unpaid absences may accumulate incidents; see “Tardiness and Absenteeism” policy for details.  Paid absences do not accumulate incidents and no doctor’s report is necessary for days missed due to illness that are taken as PTO.

Any employee that is on unpaid leave of any kind is not eligible to earn or be paid any bonuses.

PTO REQUESTS

Submit PTO requests in writing as far in advance as possible, not more than 1 year in advance, but a minimum of one week in advance, to your supervisor, who will route them to the Human Resources department.  PTO requests are granted when possible, taking into account operating requirements.  Length of employment may determine priority in scheduling PTO.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your scheduled clients visits are covered before you take time off. For that reason, no more than one trainer can be out on PTO at a time. Exceptions can be made for bereavement or illness.

If your time off is not approved, you cannot just take the time off anyway.  Anyone taking time off that was disapproved will be considered to have abandoned their job and will be subject to disciplinary actions ranging from suspension without pay up to and including termination. An employee who does not report to work on his or her scheduled day back from PTO leave automatically earns 1 incident per the Tardiness and Absenteeism policy, even if the employee calls to tell someone that he or she is not coming back on time.  It is absolutely not permitted to call in on your last day of time off and announce that you are not coming back as scheduled.  Doing so may result in disciplinary actions ranging from earning additional incidents to suspension without pay and up to and including termination.