Why would a management team switch to "zero-tolerance" on lateness after 2.5 years?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Most folks in my department arrive a few minutes late a few times a week and no one ever made a big deal about it. I am chronically late and usually more than a few minutes, but I’ve never had a job where being on time was crucial to the business (including my current job), or had an employer who ever did anything about my chronic lateness. I’ve always put in many more hours than expected, completed my time-critical work on time and never left on time, either. (Just information, not a defense of my behavior) If my alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. and a credible threat was made on my life and I was cognizant enough to evaluate the threat, yeah, I’d probably make it to work on time that day rather than hit the sleep switch.

After two and a half years in my current dept I’ve received two verbal warnings and complied to the letter of the law on the first one, if not the spirit. #1 was “You’ve got to stop coming to work at 9:30 a.m.” So I shot for 9:00 a.m. and usually hit about 9:10 - 9:15 a.m.

Today the supe says “Starting Monday, you have to be here at 9:00 a.m. Not 9:15 a.m., but 9:00 a.m. Zero-tolerance. If you are late we will have to let you go. We do not want to lose you, but after two and a half years, your starting time is no longer negotiable. Do not be a minute late on Monday morning or thereafter.”

Throw into the mix that management is aware that I am just now beginning to be treated for sleep apnea and that so far the treatment has been unsuccessful but that I have a referral to a specialist in two weeks. I’ve had sleep apnea for a long time but like many ignorant males I do not usually visit a doctor unless I have uncontrolled bleeding or broken bones (slight exaggeration.) I do not know whether the literature would support my belief, but I think the sleep apnea strongly and negatively impacts my ability to wake up in a timely fashion. It feels like being a 9-5er and not falling asleep every night until 1:30 a.m. and being asked to wake up at 3:00 a.m. and go to work every morning on 90 minutes sleep. One has a very difficult but not imposible time awakening under such circumstances.

A few questions: anyone else getting (got) treatment for sleep apnea? What worked and what did not?

Anyone else personally threatened with zero-tolerance on lateness while almost everyone else was frequently a little late?

Anyone else threatened with a job loss for a behavior at least possibly partially explained by a medical condition?

So beginning Monday a.m. I re-double my every effort to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

I understand that by most workplace measures I have been engaging in rebellious, childish behavior regarding arriving at work on time. Please don’t take unfair shots at me.

I’m curious about others’ experience with sleep apnea and whether my employer’s actions, given the circumstances, are defensible. I cannot afford to lose this job and do not intend to find out whether the supe is bluffing.

2

Hmmm…

Any new management hires recently? Some people are more letter-of-the-law than others.

Could it be they’re just clamping down? Employers do have a right to expect people to be in on time, maybe they’ve just decided to start enforcing it.

Does someone else have to do your job until you come in? Maybe there have been complaints?

3

Well, as a chronically late arriver and late departer, I know that if my management ever did that to me, I’d adopt my own zero tolerance policy towards staying after 5:00.

4

Why do you have to get up at 3 to get to work by 9?

5

I was trying to describe what sleep apnea feels like, but not so well, I guess.

It’s like you’re always dead tired, seemingly waking up more tired than when you went to sleep. Waking up 5 or more times a night is common, so you almost never get more than 90 minutes of uninterrupted sleep. When that alarm goes off, it feels like it’s 3:00 a.m. and you just hit the hay at 1:30 a.m., even though you’ve been in bed for nine hours and it’s really 7:00 a.m.

6

Thinksnow started an informative thread on sleep apnea here.

7

Good points. We do have a new CEO at HQ, and despite the fact that he’ll never set foot in our branch, we may be a letter-of-the law guy.

They are definitely clamping down. Allegedly, the staff ran roughshod over the mgmt in the go-go 90’s. Lateness, long lunches, unlimited sick days, early takeoffs. This could be payback. We are no longer allowed to have radios, CD players or anything that makes noise. No more eating at our desks. No more plants or personal effects.

Just because they never enforced it does not mean that they cannot today. **However, how in the world can it be “zero tolerance” for me personally and not for everyone else. No one else got the zero-tolerance pitch but me and I guarantee half the staff will be at least five minutes late Monday morning and I will be written up for one minute late, if the supe is not bluffing. **
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8

BTW, the CPAP machine (which I’m sure you’ll be hearing about if you haven’t already) did not work out for my husband’s sleep apnea. He just couldn’t get used to it despite trying for several months. He eventually developed such severe skin irritations wherever the strap touched his face, that he gave up. (He tried all different kinds of straps, to no avail)

He gets up at 5:30 whether he needs to or not, which is annoying on the weekends. He goes to bed very early to make sure he gets enough sleep, although the quality of his sleep varies wildly from night to night. Sleep apnea is a terribly difficult disorder to live with, I feel for your situation there. :frowning:

9

My sister has sleep apnea and sleeps every night connected to a machine which forces you to keep breathing. Once you are able to keep breathing, you should be able to sleep soundly and be more alert during the day. If you are overweight, that may be having an effect on your breathing patterns too. Sleep apnea can play havoc with your life. I’m not faulting you for being sleepy.

Your employer is not being unreasonable. If I were you, I would try to be there at 8:30 a.m. It won’t kill you! Your sleep apnea should not become your employers problem.

I wish you luck and good sound sleeping hours!

10

It may be they are trying to cut back on their number of employees without having to go through the trouble of lay-offs - in some states, if you have more than a certain number of employees you have to give them a certain amount of notice before laying people off, if you don’t give them notice you have to pay them for that period of time. If you want to avoid that hassle and you know your company has a lot of dead wood, you introduce a new zero tolerance policy and use it as an excuse to let people go. I think the company I used to work for did something similar. They made it so if you were late two times without calling in an hour in advance you were fired, no exceptions…except there were exceptions. People with seniority or friends in management never even got written up for being late. Dozens of people (mostly people hired in the last year or so)were let go over a few weeks, almost all of them for tardiness. Not long after that they announced the layoffs, and the people who remained (including me) got a nice severance check. The people who got fired for being late a few weeks before got pissed.

11

True, however, how can the supe have a zero-tolerance lateneness policy for only me? Perhaps I should have asked for some clarification.

12

I wouldn’t want to work for a liar anyway.

13

Touché! Monday a.m. may be a good time to call in some markers from other departments and start plotting a transfer.

14

  1. Your sleep apnea is not the employers problem

  2. You are not the boss.

  3. Childish acting out or passive agressiveness will likely get you fired.

  4. You are easily replaced

  5. 9:00am is not an unreasonable hour to start work.

15

All true except four. This is an extremely non-intuitive job and the company provides no real training. Either it is in you or you figure it out for yourself. In the two and a half years I have been there all others (thus far) have perished before becoming proficient. If my replacement finds an average $250,000 of lost inventory in his first year in lieu of my $13,000,000 and they choose to fire me, that is their business.

I do believe that in their minds 1-3 and 5 outweigh #4, so you are right, no matter what.

One is true, however it might not be a good practice to fire an employee for a performance issue partially caused by a medical problem before the medical treatment(s) are given a chance to solve the problem, especially if the problem may be resolved within the near term.

16

Talk to your HR people. Have your medical records. Don’t know how big your company is, but sounds like they have an HR department. Head this off at the pass, aim to get in early on Monday, talk to the folks at HR, put your case in writing and go from there. If they whack you, then you’ve got some documentation before the fact…

17

What China Guy said. In many states it’s illegal for an employer to fire someone because of a disability. They will try to fire you for being late, but if your tardiness is because of a documented disability you might have a legal leg to stand on.

We have one guy who used to fall asleep at his desk and snore loudly. Then he got treatment for sleep apnea, and now he remains conscious. On the other hand, we had a guy who went on disability for a bad back. He was fired after attending the company picnic and showed up (while on disability) and was seen enjoying himself riding roller coasters.

18

This is an extremely obsolete view of management. A manager should be concerned about productivity, not about how many hours an employee spends iat work. The only time when the former equals to the latter are non-skill jobs like McD’s or workers on assembly lines. You don’t do this to programmers, accountants, doctors, and anybody who needs years of training to do his job.

19

As to why they might to this…

Most likely:
As part of a general crackdown on independent behavior, your management has decided they need to make an example of someone. You’ve been selected as the sacrificial candidate, perhaps becasue you are perceived as the most flagrant offender. You’ve gotten the “zero tolerance” warning because management has talked to HR and is covering its ass against a possible wrongful termination lawsuit.

The fact that you are an otherwise good and productive employee makes you an even better candidate to get rid of. Firing a good employee for this kind of thing notches up the intimidation factor for the others. The response they’re looking to generate among the rank and file is something like, “Jeez, they must REALLY be serious if they get rid of Lorenzo.”

Believe me when I say this: many managers prefer their employees to act like well trained circus animals, rather than to act independent self-motivated colleagues. They have a self-image of a ringmaster with a whip and chair.

20

*I’ve always put in many more hours than expected, completed my time-critical work on time and never left on time, either.

In the two and a half years I have been there all others (thus far) have perished before becoming proficient. If my replacement finds an average $250,000 of lost inventory in his first year in lieu of my $13,000,000 and they choose to fire me, that is their business.*

It seems clear they don’t care about you, and the above shows they don’t care about performance and dedication. Apparently all they care about is following the rules.

If you’re the only one the zero-tolerance policy applies to, I would think you’d have the basis for a wrongful termination suit. You might check with a lawyer about those rules (employment laws). When you sue and turn the tables on them, they may lose their appetite for concentrating on picky details while ignoring the big picture.