Earned Sick Time Policy

Accrual of Sick Time 

All employees of Navigation Games whose primary place of employment is Massachusetts shall be eligible to accrue and use unpaid sick time. (Note that employers who have 11 or more employees must provide paid sick time.) Sick time accrues at the rate of one (1) hour for every thirty (30) hours worked per calendar year, up to a maximum of 40 hours. For accrual purposes, exempt employees will be assumed to work 40 hours per week, unless they are normally scheduled to work fewer than 40 hours, in which case earned sick time accrues based on their regular schedule. Earned sick times is tracked by Gusto, our payroll service.

Use of Sick Time 

Employees may use up to 40 hours of accrued sick time per benefit year. Accrual of sick time begins on the employee’s first date of actual work, but employees may not use such earned sick time until 90 calendar days after their start date. Sick time is provided to allow employees to: 

1. care for the employee’s own physical or mental illness, injury, or other medical condition that requires home, preventative, or professional care; 

2. care for a child, parent, spouse, or parent of a spouse who is suffering from a physical or mental illness, injury, or other medical condition that requires home, preventative or professional care; 

3. attend routine medical and dental appointments for themselves or for their child, parent, spouse, or parent of a spouse; 

4. address the psychological, physical, or legal effects of domestic violence; or 

5. travel to and from an appointment, a pharmacy, or other location related to the purpose for which the time was taken. 

Use of sick time for other purposes is not allowed and may result in an employee being disciplined. 

Employees may not use sick time if the employee is not scheduled to be at work during the period of use.  An employee may not accept a specific shift assignment with the intention of calling out sick for all or part of that shift. 

Earned sick time may be used for full or partial day absences. The smallest amount of sick time that an employee can take is one hour. For uses beyond one hour, employees can use sick time in 1 minute increments. 

Sick time cannot be used as an excuse to be late for work without an authorized purpose. 

If an employee’s absence from work requires Navigation Games to call in a replacement worker to cover the absent employee’s job functions, Navigation Games may require the absent employee to use an equal number of hours of sick time as were worked by the replacement.  If the employee lacks sufficient accrued sick time to cover all such time worked by the replacement, the employer will provide sufficient job-protected unpaid leave to make up the difference in that shift. 

In certain circumstances, the employee and supervisor may mutually agree that an employee will work and be paid for an equivalent number of additional hours or shifts during the same or the next pay period as the hours or shifts taken as sick time. In those cases, the employee will not be required to use accrued sick time, and Navigation Games will not pay for the time that the employee was absent. Navigation Games may, at its discretion, permit employees to use earned sick time before the employee accrues it, and count the use against future accrual. In such cases, Navigation Games’s agreement to permit such use will be confirmed in writing.

Up to 40 hours of unused sick time may be carried over into the following benefit year. 

Absence Notification Procedures 

If an employee needs to be absent, to be late or to leave work early (for purposes that are permissible under the earned sick time law), the employee must give advance notice to his or her supervisor, except in an emergency. 

Notice should be provided through a notification system established by Navigation Games in a manner that the employee customarily uses to communicate with the employer for absences or requesting leave. 

If the absence is foreseeable (for example, if the employee will be absent to attend a previously scheduled appointment), the employee must provide up to seven days’ advance notice, unless the employee learns of the need to use earned sick time within a shorter period of time. If the absence is not foreseeable, the employee must provide notice to his or her supervisor at least 24 hours before the start of the employee’s shift. If 24 hours’ notice is not reasonable due to an accident or sudden illness, notice must be provided as soon as practicable.

If an employee is going to be absent on multiple days, the employee or the employee’s surrogate (e.g., spouse, adult family member or other responsible party) must provide notice of the expected duration of the leave or, if unknown, provide notice of continuing absence on a daily basis, unless the circumstances make such notice unreasonable. 

Verification of Use of Sick Time 

Navigation Games may require an employee to personally verify in writing that he or she has used sick time for an allowable purpose, but the employee shall not be required to explain the nature of the illness or the details of the domestic violence. A doctor’s note or other documentation will not be required.

Navigation Games Expectations Regarding Attendance 

Employees should remember that regular, reliable attendance and timeliness is expected. 

If an employee commits fraud or abuse by engaging in an activity that is not consistent with allowable purposes for sick time, the employee may be subject to disciplinary action. 

If an employee is exhibiting a clear pattern of taking leave on days just before or after a weekend, vacation, or holiday, Navigation Games may discipline the employee for misuse of earned sick time, unless the employee provides verification of authorized use. 

Payout of Sick Time 

Sick time is not payable on termination of employment.

Interaction with Other Types of Leave 

If any time off covered under this policy is also covered under Navigation Games’s FMLA, Parental Leave, Domestic Violence Leave, SNLA leave, or other leave of absence policies, sick time shall run concurrently with such leave. Employees may choose, and Navigation Games may also require employees, to use earned sick time to receive pay for absences under other leave policies if those absences would otherwise be unpaid. 

Note: this policy was written based on the sample policy provided by the state of Massachusetts, at https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/py/sample-est-policy.pdf