Kara Sealy, Labour Management Advisor of BEC; Janelle Arthur of the Productivity Council; and Cicely Chase, Attorney-at-law, Seneca Law Chambers, at the BEC Open Forum, which was held under the theme ‘A Business Approach to Managing Absenteeism’.
Absenteeism a serious problem
Your birthday or Kadooment Day are not valid reasons to stay away from work.
Cicely Chase, attorney-at-law, Seneca Law Chambers, issued this reminder to employees recently while speaking at the Barbados Employers’ Confederation’s (BEC) Open Forum, held under the theme “A Business Approach to Managing Absenteeism”, at the BEC Conference Room.
“We as employers all of us have employees and issues relative to absenteeism; it is a worrying factor in Barbados and other Caribbean jurisdictions. Absenteeism has taken its toll. In law we get calls for consultations on how to deal with employees and treat absenteeism as a tool for being off work.
“We hear employees say I don’t work on my birthday, we have employees who believe that their birthday is so precious and so important that it can override a contract of employment. Therefore, you have to tell the employers, however compassionate you want to be as an employer, you have to say that a birthday is certainly not a day to be absent. The only way an employee can be absent for a birthday is if an employee has a certified sick day or an uncertified sick day. Many of us have heard someone say I’m not going to work because it is my birthday that is the culture of our country, but what about the [Kadooment] weekend?”
Chase highlighted, “Crop Over is upon us and some employees will jump down Spring Garden on Kadooment Day in the hot sun and will suffer from fatigue, sunburn and may be drunk and can’t perform the next day; the question remains is the employer supposed to be sympathetic to the cause and effects? Politely you need to say to the employee, ‘I don’t mind if you enjoy yourself or if you have a birthday just understand you have duties and that these duties don’t have to be reassigned because you want time’. This is a challenge that a lot of employer’s face in Barbados.
“Some persons say you must be as reasonable as possible, but a contract of employment is a contract, there are terms and conditions. As employers we must provide a safe working environment, provide a healthy building, equipment etc. and the employee has a duty to work. Even though we want to be reasonable, we cannot spoil our employees because look at organisations with a lot of persons; imagine the employer said you have been here for ten years go enjoy your birthday, what about the others that believe even though they were there for two years, why can’t they miss work after Kadooment Day? Imagine the ripple effect... so we must standardise and that is why the attendance policy is so important. A lot of companies do not have attendance policies,” she added.
However, she stated, “There is a hurricane or storm coming and your employees want to go to the supermarket. I think in urgent situations with weather patterns, I do believe with that type of situation the employer must be as reasonable as possible. But, unapologetically I don’t think we should be as reasonable or sympathetic with the birthdays because it will get complicated, as you have birthdays, anniversaries etc. You maintain an industrial standard and you stick to it.” (NB)