WATSON CLINIC LLP PERSONNEL POLICY
LAKELAND, FLORIDA EFFECTIVE: May 1, 1990
REVISED: April 1, 2001
October 1, 2002
December 12, 2008
PAID TIME OFF
PURPOSE:
Paid Time Off (PTO) provides eligible employees with a flexible and discretionary method of scheduling paid time away from the Clinic.
SCOPE OF POLICY:
Full-Time Exempt, Full-Time Flex and Part-Time Flex Employees after 90 days of employment.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENFORCEMENT:
Administrators, Department Directors/Managers/Supervisors, Accounting, and Human Resources.
POLICY STATEMENT:
Paid time off (PTO) is the grouping together of all earned vacation time, personal days, holidays and paid short term illness days into a single paid time-off system. Under this method Employees will enjoy greater flexibility for scheduling paid benefit hours away from the job. PTO benefit time should be utilized by the staff member to supplement worked hours.
PTO can be earned on a maximum of 40 hours per week (2080 hours per year). It will accrue based upon employment status for Full-Time Exempt and Full-Time Flex Employees. For Part-Time Flex Employees, it will accrue based on the number of paid hours received each pay period (prorated). PTO will not accrue on any unpaid time or hours such as unpaid individual absences, paid or unpaid leaves of absence, workers compensation leaves, on call time, overtime, etc. The amount of PTO earned each pay period is based on the number of years of service a Employee has with the Clinic as shown on the table below.
A. PTO Accruals:
Service Accrual Maximum Maximum
Time Rate Yearly Accrual Total Accrual
0-6 years .09231 192 hours (24 days) 384 hours (48 days)
7-14 years .11154 232 hours (29 days) 464 hours (58 days)
15-21 years .13077 272 hours (34 days) 544 hours (68 days)
22+ years .15000 312 hours (39 days) 624 hours (78 days)
NOTE: Department Directors and Administrators accrue an additional 40 hours per year in each service category.
C-1.1
Employees who are classified as Full-Time Exempt or Full-Time Flex will be automatically credited with the maximum PTO accrual (on 80 hours) each pay period unless they are on Leave of Absence. Employees who are classified as Part-Time Flex will be credited with PTO based on the number of paid hours each week (exclusive of overtime and on call hours) unless they are on Leave of Absence.
A maximum amount of PTO can be earned each anniversary year. At no time may an Employee’s PTO balance exceed the defined maximum for his/her length of service. In applying this provision, PTO taken in a pay period will be subtracted from the Employee’s balance before the new PTO is added for the pay period.
An Employee will automatically move to the next higher accrual rate coincidental with the completion of the 6th, 14th, and 21st anniversary dates. The higher accrual rate will become effective at the beginning of the pay period during which the anniversary date falls. PTO will be paid at the Employee’s straight time hourly rate in effect at the time it is used and will be paid according to the number of scheduled hours for the day as determined by the Supervisor. It will never count as hours worked for the purposes of computing overtime.
PTO must be requested and approved in advance by the Supervisor and will be scheduled at the convenience of the Employee whenever possible. However, it must be recognized that in the interest of patient care, the Clinic reserves the right to schedule or reschedule PTO at any time during the year. The Clinic also reserves the right to limit the number of consecutive days of PTO taken by the Employee at any time. All PTO is to be noted in the timekeeping system by the supervisor (or designated representative).
Employees may only take time off without pay under the following circumstances:
¨ They have no PTO and their Department Director chooses to allow it due to the circumstances involved, or
¨ They are taking time off involuntarily due to Clinic closure or system failure that results in being sent home during normal work hours.
Employees who are sent home by the Clinic because of Clinic closure or physician’s absence, may choose whether they wish to take the time without pay or use accrued PTO for those hours.
PTO may not be used for a Clinic-recognized holiday if an employee has an unscheduled absence on the day before or after the holiday.
Actual time off work must be taken in order to receive PTO except for:
A. Termination of employment (paid off)
B. Layoff (paid off)
C. Retirement (paid off)
D. Death (paid to next of kin)
E. PTO Sellbacks
C-1.2
The Clinic will pay PTO hours for unscheduled absences. This is for pay purposes only and such days will still be counted as absences for all other purposes.
Even though an Employee who resigns receives payment of all accrued PTO, such time may not be used in lieu of notice at termination of employment unless approved by the Senior Associate Administrator of Human Resources.
PTO Sellbacks: Employees may use the following options for selling back unused PTO:
Option 1: Employees may elect a sellback of any number of hours (as long as there are 40 hours remaining in the PTO bank following the sellback) to be paid at 100% of current rate of pay on the first payday in March of the following year. This election must be made and received in Human Resources by the last business day of November of the year in which the election is made.
Option 2: The Clinic will also process sellback requests monthly at 90% of current rate of pay on the first payday of each month, if elected in writing by the preceding Friday. There must be 40 hours remaining in the PTO bank following the sellback.
All sellbacks will be paid with the regular paycheck. Manual checks will not be prepared for this purpose.
An employee who has submitted a resignation may not sell back PTO prior to terminating employment. Terminating employees will receive payment for their PTO balance on the payday following their last payday for time worked.
An employee may transfer PTO hours to another full or part time employee who experiences a personal hardship or serious illness. The employee who is eligible to receive PTO must have used all available sick time, if applicable, and be within 40 hours of exhausting PTO. The completion of a transfer PTO form will be required and subject to review and approval by the Senior Associate Administrator of Human Resources.
APPROVAL:
______
Kelly M. Lonsberry
Sr. Associate Administrator
Human Resources
______
Stanley L. Piotrowski
Chief Administrative Officer