NEW YORK: Merrill Lynch has cut the number of sick days that employees can take without consequences each year to three days from 40 days. Workers out sick for more than three days must discuss the matter with their managers, Merrill said in a memorandum to employees. Anyone absent four or more days may lose pay, and could be fired after nine days. The rule took effect last week.
"A good attendance record and demonstrated reliability is one attribute of successful performance and is expected of all employees," the memo said. The policy applies to all U.S. staff members. Merrill, the world's biggest brokerage firm, employed 60,300 people worldwide at the end of the first quarter.
Previously, Merrill allowed workers to be absent as many as 10 times for four days each, said a spokeswoman, Selena Morris. Employees still get four personal days in addition to sick time, she said. Those with extended illnesses can request medical leave. The policy brings the firm in line with its rivals, she said.
The sick days and personal days come on top of paid vacation time, which is three weeks for employees with fewer than 10 years of service and four weeks for those with more.
Merrill offers generous benefits, Morris said, like 13 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers of newborns, including for adoptive parents. The company also offers subsidized day care at its New York headquarters and its operations campus in Hopewell, New Jersey.
The limits on sick days may encourage workers to return while they are still contagious and have a "domino effect" on the rest of the staff, said Amy Nichols, director of hospital epidemiology and infection control at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. "Coming to work ill puts other workers at risk for becoming ill, and it decreases productivity," Nichols said.
The International Herald Tribune
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