Treating Arrests as Absences

When an employee loses time from work because he or she is incarcerated or arrested, you may choose to handle it as an absence issue. This may be your best bet if you don't have a large number of employees and arrests are not common among your workforce. You could treat such an absence due to incarceration as unexcused and apply an existing rule stating that any employee with more than the mandated number of unexcused absences may be subject to suspension or termination.

If you decide to treat this situation as an absence issue:

• Decide if the employee will be able to draw on any vacation time, if applicable.
• Permit the employee to apply for a leave without pay, subject to approval, depending on the length of the term of imprisonment (this implies that the employee will be allowed to return to work after release).