January 26, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Showing up for work!
To ensure that employees of the DeKalb County Solid Waste Department scheduled for work show up on time or contact their supervisor if they can’t show up for work, the county commission has adopted an attendance policy for the department.
The action was taken Monday night during the regular monthly meeting of the commission at the request of County Mayor Matt Adcock and Solid Waste Director James Goff.
While there is already a county wide personnel policy which includes solid waste employees, County Mayor Adcock said the policy does not include rules about attendance. The department also lacks a policy and procedure manual. Efforts are underway to establish such a manual for the solid waste department which will include a provision for attendance. In the meantime, Adcock said he and Goff thought it best that the county commission enact the attendance rules first.
“In the past there were no rules of enforcement to discipline employees for not showing up to work and according to Director Goff, the Solid Waste Department is having some attendance issues. Some employees have not been coming to work, nor even taking the time to call and explain to management that they will not be there so that someone can be scheduled to cover their absence. This new attendance policy will give Director Goff the leverage he needs to get his employees to work,” said County Mayor Adcock.
The attendance policy includes discipline based on a points system. One absence occurrence will have a value of one point. A tardy will be 1/2 point. A no call, no show will be four points. A point will remain on the individual’s record for 6 months from the date that the point was assigned. After 6 months, any points accumulated would be dropped from an employee’s record provided there are no further policy attendance violations.
At four points, an employee would be issued a verbal warning. Five points would require a written warning and at six points the employee would be terminated.