Attendance policy

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger, Roger
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Roger, Roger

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So, a story I heard recently prompted me to ask this:

What is the attendance policy for pilots at your airline? Specifically, what would happen if you missed your alarm and made a flight depart 20 minutes late (with you, not a reserve crew member)?
 
Most airlines will have a progressive discipline policy in place for this. For example, first offense might be a verbal counseling, second offense a written warning, third offense a suspension, and fourth offense a termination. There are certainly variations, but most policies will follow a similar pattern.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Most airlines will have a progressive discipline policy in place for this. For example, first offense might be a verbal counseling, second offense a written warning, third offense a suspension, and fourth offense a termination. There are certainly variations, but most policies will follow a similar pattern.
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And that would be written where? FOM? Union contract? If, say, The Company were to try to fire a pilot on the first instance, said pilot's union should be able to appeal it (depending, of course, on circumstances), correct?
 
I arrived to the aircraft at pushback time (Kids, don't commute).

But between calling the captain and notifying crew scheduling, I never heard another thing about it. Of course that was my first "HOLY CRAP!!!" call in 13 years.
 
Roger said:
And that would be written where? FOM? Union contract? If, say, The Company were to try to fire a pilot on the first instance, said pilot's union should be able to appeal it (depending, of course, on circumstances), correct?
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It would help if I knew which airline. Each airline has different language in the contract. Some contracts have a lot more protections than others. In general, though, there is always the ability to grieve a termination (as long as you aren't at a non-union airline) or other disciplinary action.
 
Roger said:
And that would be written where? FOM? Union contract? If, say, The Company were to try to fire a pilot on the first instance, said pilot's union should be able to appeal it (depending, of course, on circumstances), correct?
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With 9E, it's neither. It's a "company policy," which means they can (and have) changed it on a whim. Too many call-ins last week? BAM! Everyone is now required to bring a doctor's note, even if you haven't called in sick in 5 years.
 
kellwolf said:
With 9E, it's neither. It's a "company policy," which means they can (and have) changed it on a whim. Too many call-ins last week? BAM! Everyone is now required to bring a doctor's note, even if you haven't called in sick in 5 years.
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Not to mention that now you can't forecast a sick call. :)
 
At my particular airline, each event is a separate occurrence. They're measured on a rolling 12-month calendar. If you call off a trip, or you're late, it's a single occurrence. After 4 occurrences, you get a "verbal warning" - they call you and say " . . . you know you've got 4 occurrences, right?". 8 in a rolling 12-month period, and they can terminate you. The verbal warning means nothing, though.

It's written in our Associate Handbook.
 
I can in sick when I am not well enough to fly - be that physically or mentally..

The company cannot force you to violate a FAR..

;)
 
I had to drop a turn once because my passport fell out of my flight kit and onto the floor of an airplane. I didn't realize it until the first flight the next morning, which was a domestic leg. Scheduling dropped the subsequent int'l turn and I never heard anything, granted I talked to the CPO about it as soon as I got back to base. Another crew found my passport and returned it to me. I now carry the passport in a shirt pocket. Now it gets washed instead of lost.

Another time I made a flight 15 minutes late because I couldn't find my airline ID when I got to the terminal after an overnight. I didn't realize this at the time, but I had put the ID in my jeans pocket the night before so I could save $1 at the hotel restaurant. When I got to security, I freaked out because my ID wasn't dangling from my shirt pocket as usual. So I ran outside and took a cab back to the hotel only to realize after getting there that it was still in my jeans pocket, which had been in my rollaboard all along. Pilot cheapness and 4AM wakeups strike again! I never heard a thing about this one either. Turns out we had a 45 minute EDC time to ORD anyway. I do think they were going to give me a missed trip/letter if I hadn't found the ID though.

Basically, the amount of punishment you get probably depends on the state of management/labor relations at your airline. If a flight goes out late because you didn't get to the airport on time with your required items, you can probably expect a letter of warning most of the time. In my experience, it's a 3 strikes type of deal, with each strike dropping off 12 months after it happened.
 
mtsu_av8er said:
At my particular airline, each event is a separate occurrence. They're measured on a rolling 12-month calendar. If you call off a trip, or you're late, it's a single occurrence. After 4 occurrences, you get a "verbal warning" - they call you and say " . . . you know you've got 4 occurrences, right?". 8 in a rolling 12-month period, and they can terminate you. The verbal warning means nothing, though.

It's written in our Associate Handbook.
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Thats actually pretty lienient... says the guy from the corporate side.
 
I think it all depends on your history at such company. If you are sick, then you're sick. No way around it. My problem is with people who abuse the system and make it look bad for everyone else.
 
Soul Brotha' said:
I think it all depends on your history at such company. If you are sick, then you're sick. No way around it. My problem is with people who abuse the system and make it look bad for everyone else.
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The problem here at Pinnacle is if you call in sick twice in a few months for sinus issues in the middle of cold season the a) assume you're playing hookie or b) try to shove FMLA down your throat.

ctab5060x said:
Not to mention that now you can't forecast a sick call.
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Of fatigue. :) I just read the new memo in my virtual v-file. Basically, guys were calling scheduling and saying "I'm sick, but I'm flying ICT-MEM at least." Well, now, guys will just bang out sick in the outstation (which is the legal thing to do) or just call in sick when they get back to the hub, which means scheduling is gonna be freaking out because they won't have time to get a reserve there. More "We need you to go straight to the gate" calls from scheduling and more "No, I get 45 minutes before departure to show, and I need to check-in on the computer and check my v-file per the FOM" responses from me.
 
Alchemy said:
Another time I made a flight 15 minutes late because I couldn't find my airline ID when I got to the terminal after an overnight.
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I had something like this happen to me once... it was right before I was furloughed. I was 'deicing' my car in ORD at the crashpad and in my 'overenthuiasm' while scraping the snow and ice of the midwest off my car my ID flew out of the badge holder and on the ground on the driveway.

I made it into the parking lot, on the bus, to the gate, down to the airplane, did the preflight, got the ATIS, did the numbers, programmed the FMS, finally took a breather, and looked down at my chest and there was no ID. I looked all over the plane (I earlier showed a flight attendant how to 'fix' the jumpseat in the back of the -700) and I didn't have my ID. When I called into scheduling, for the first time in 3 years they were cool about it. (I think that they sensed my panic at possibly losing my ID - which for me was great because I was supposed to commute home after that turn) They dropped the turn from my schedule, called another reserve. (docked my pay of course...) I traced my steps all the way back to the crashpad. (stopping at the gate, checking the employee bus, around my car, at the gas station, and finally at the driveway back at the pad finding my ID) Whew!

Anyhoo... back at my old PHX based regional it was 4 'occurances' (which could be anything) in a rolling 12 month period before the warnings and terminations start. The union tried to fight the policy because it wasn't negotiated/agreed to. To this day, I don't think they have come to any agreements on policy over there and they are still butting heads.
 
ClearedForOption said:
I made it into the parking lot, on the bus, to the gate, down to the airplane, did the preflight, got the ATIS, did the numbers, programmed the FMS, finally took a breather, and looked down at my chest and there was no ID.
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How did you get to the plane without an ID? TSA in MEM would have had a FIELD DAY with that.
 
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