fmla & new attendance policies Nebraska

[Robt]

The company has changed their attendance policy yet again on its workforce. Under the last attendance policy if an employee worked "x" amount of time without missing they accrued what is title a " bank day ".
This bank day is discribed as an excused day off,(to be used at an employees discretion). Incentive plan if you will.
The company hires new HR managers and they write a new attendance policy. Feeling they have a attendance abuse problem with FMLA. When the new policy starts these bank days are carried over for use. But, the new attendance plans incentive changed to consecutive hours worked to earn attendance points. If I use a carried over bank day (earned excused day off) now it will zero out my accumulated hours toward positive points.

The company says it must do this to good attendees for they have a FMLA epidiemic and to zero out their consecutive hrs toward positive points when they use FMLA they must zero me (who has no FMLA) out as well.

so basically the company changed the meaning of an earned excusal day from prior attendance program that punishes good attendees without FMLA because they feel they can punish those who use FMLA.
I hope I made this understandable. Really need some insight to address the company on them honoring what I earned under their last attendance program. That I am not a casualty of their war on FMLA when I do not have it.

[ElleMD]

Technically they don't have to provide the incentive days at all. If they do so, they may set the rules as they like, however, it would be illegal for them to allow you who has not taken FMLA to accumulate hours toward the incentive and not those on FMLA. The law requires your employer to treat both groups equally. You might not like it, but it is what is required by law and it is a more generous policy than is required.

[Robt]

Thanks for your candidness.
You are right I may not like it. It seems pretty disresectful for them to take something I already earned for good attendance to snipe at poor attendance behavioral changes.

Our prior attendance program allowed for people who used FMLA to earn a bank day as well as people without FMLA. From some of your response I thought I may have not been that clear. So when these Bank Days are carried over to the new attendance plan, it carries over anyones earned banked days. If you hadn't earned any or had already used them then one did not have any to carry over.
Doesn't it seem logical since policy allows the carry over into the new attendance plan they're definition of bank day should not change? And FMLA users and non FMLA users alike have what Bank days they already earned to use as originally intended by the companys prior HR Mgrs and honor that in which was earned? Just to make clear that there has been no disparity to earn them and no disparity to use them among employees with and without FMLA. It is the company that carried them over.
Would the company have the right to redefine my past prior good attendance, changing it to bad under a new attendance policy so that my attendance reflects that of folks that utilize FMLA that also have poor attendance? I do not see how it makes poor attendance good. That is what they target.

[ElleMD]

The company can grandfather the days under the new plan which is the fair thing to do, and simply change the way they are earned going forward. If you miss a day now for any reason, whether planned, unplanned, FMLA or not, it counts as an absence. It is actually in a way more fair as before, those who missed a day that wasn't covered under FMLA could not earn the bonus day but those who were out but were covered still got the day even though they were out just as long or longer.

Whether you like the new policy or not, it is legal. I don't see why a change in policy would alter anything from before this one was in effect.