September 29, 2021
Whether or not your business offers paid time off as an employee benefit, there is a chance you run into a situation where your staff want to, or need to, take leave without pay.
Your employee may need more time to recover from an illness than what their sick leave allowance provides, or there can be other unexpected circumstances in their families that require them to take extended leave from work.
You can allow employees to request leave without pay in specific circumstances to accommodate for certain situations that call for an absence from duty, not covered by your paid time off policy.
Below, we will discuss the following:
Did you know that one third of US adults didn’t take a sick day in over 12 months? Click here to read more, and learn why that’s a problem.
Leave without pay (or LWOP) is a temporary nonpay status, where the employee requests time off from work, with the intention to return to duty.
Employees may request time off that is not covered under sick leave or annual leave policies of your business, or additional time off past the regular allowance that comes part of your employee’s compensation benefits.
Leave without pay may also take into account time off required under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave in some situations, such as emergencies or to manage health issues for themselves or close family members.
In these situations, leave without pay means the worker should be able to return to work, and not risk losing their employment.
There still needs to be a request and approval process for LWOP like other leave types, as we will discuss further below.
Depending on the circumstance, and how much regular leave your time off policy offers, there can be a range of different situations when an employee might need leave without pay.
That is why it’s a type of leave that allows more flexibility in your policy.
But let’s look at a couple of typical situations for LWOP, and also explain how it is different from regular unpaid time off.
The average number of paid sick days available to an employee in the private sector in the USA, after 1 year of service, is around 6-8 days.
For a severe illness or injury, it can take a lot longer than a week for someone to recover. The same goes if the employee’s child or family member is sick, and the employee has to care for them. This situation would require, under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a period of leave without pay where the employee can later return to work.
Sometimes an employee may want a longer vacation, which extends past your company’s paid annual leave allowance.
In this case, LWOP is a matter of policy for your business. Your human resources team can decide whether you want to let the employee take an extended leave of absence, some or all of which may be without pay.
Check out the average number of PTO days for workers in the US.
Sabbatical is an extended leave period when an employee pursues other interests or attends to personal commitments. The leave period can range anywhere from a month to a year.
Unless you offer paid sabbatical leaves to select members of your team, you can categorize this type of a long term leave as leave without pay.
Other situations where you might use LWOP is when an employee takes time off to serve in government, the military, or participate in community service, although these types of leaves could also fall under sabbaticals.
Further Reading: Everything you need to know to create your Employee Leave Policy.
Before you decide to approve leave without pay, there are a few things to consider to make sure that someone’s absence doesn’t disrupt workflow or impact the rest of the team’s productivity.
Just because you’re not paying for the time away, it doesn’t mean your employees should be able to take off from work any time they want.
You still need to get things done, and that requires people to work with each other. And a team member’s absence can severely impact workflow unless you plan ahead.
And to plan ahead, you need notice. This is why a LWOP request needs to be submitted to human resources, just like other leave types. Requests need to include details (and maybe even documents) outlining the reason for the LWOP request.
A leave management software is typically the simplest way for employees to request leave and include all relevant details. It also makes it easier for the HR manager to review the details of the request, and manage the leave calendar in a way that increases team productivity, morale, and efficiency.
Learn More: Check out all the benefits of Flamingo’s Leave Tracker; the simplest way for your company to manage the team leave calendar.
You might also consider capping the maximum length of a LWOP absence.
Like we explained above, even though you’re not paying for the leave, the work still needs to get done.
And if one team member is allowed to take off as much time as they want, then it could create not only workflow issues, but also morale issues for the rest of the team.
Leave without pay, especially for extended periods, should only be approved under special circumstances (such as a federal law like the Family and Medical Leave Act), and it might even be a good idea to state a maximum period in your leave policy.
Otherwise, if you’d prefer to allow maximum flexibility to your employees as long as they get their work done, then you can look into an unlimited PTO policy.
LWOP is very different from AWOL – absence without official leave.
AWOL is basically when your employee stops showing up to work even though you haven’t approved leave.
Unless you have something like unlimited PTO policy, AWOL is not something that should be tolerated – not only will it kill your workflow, but it also sends the wrong message to the rest of the team.
With LWOP, the leave request is reviewed and approved by HR, and it typically means the employee is still in good standing and that both parties expect work to resume after the leave period is over.
As we discussed throughout the article, unexpected situations happen. And in these circumstances, your leave policy should be flexible enough to allow extended time off through leave without pay.
If a team member needs additional time to care for a sick elderly parent, and they don’t have history of absenteeism, then being flexible enough and allowing them extra time is not only the compassionate thing to do, but it will also strengthen the appreciation they have for you as an employer.
That means improved morale and enthusiasm when they come back to work.
But if you find that too many employees are requesting LWOP, then there might be underlying issues you need to address at the policy level.
Maybe your employees are overstretched and they’re getting burned out? Or perhaps your paid time off policy is not adequate, or there is an issue of absenteeism among your staff.
If you suspect it’s the latter, then take some time to evaluate your current policy and see if there is room for improvement or increased clarity.
Flamingo makes managing your team’s paid time off a breeze.
April 23, 2024
Key Takeaways:* Garden Leave, or Gardening Leave, is when an employee leaves their job and is asked to stay a...
April 16, 2024
An efficient leave planning process is vital if you want to allow your employees to take time off without cau...
April 2, 2024
As a business owner or the leader of a team, you should be encouraging employees to take more time off. Contr...
