All TYE Employees are full-time employees and are required to be
available for service to ensure BNSF meets its customers' expectations.
Contingent upon the needs of service, reasonable unavailable events are
permitted.
The TYE Attendance Guidelines:
* Set a clear standard for full-time employment.
* Allow employees to easily, accurately, and contemporaneously
determine where they stand in comparison to BNSF's attendance
standard.
* Provide employees with an opportunity to improve their standing
through regular/steady attendance.
1. Assessment of Points
Employees are deducted points for various incidents of
non-attendance including both full and/or partial day absences.
a) Unavailable events including ELO (Employee Layoff), LFT (Failure
to Tie Up), LFS (Canadian Fatigue Scale), LOA (Layoff Active Board
/ Away Terminal or After Start of Shift) and LOD (Layoff Dressed &
Ready to Work) deduct 10 points if the event begins on a Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Unavailable events that begin on
Friday, Saturday or Sunday deduct 16 points.
b) High Impact Day (HID) unavailable events deduct 20 points. The HID
deduction applies if the unavailable event occurs on the day of the
HID, or the unavailable event occurs prior to the HID and employee
is not marked up by 0600 on the HID.
c) EMC (Missed Call), LOC (Layoff On Call) and NOS (No Show) events
deduct 20 points, or 25 points if on HID.
d) Any unavailable event that:
1) Begins within 48 hours following a VAC, PLD or LXD event or,
2) Begins within 24 hours following an SRS event or,
3) Begins or ends within 48 hours of CLD, MED, LAB, UNB, FML, SCA
or any other unpaid leave event will be charged an additional 3
points.
This is referred to as a Conjunction Penalty. No Conjunction
Penalty is assessed for unavailability during the 48 hours before
a VAC, PLD, or LXD event.
* Work events and scheduled rest days break the Conjunction
Penalty
* Conjunction penalty does not apply to EMC/LOC/NOS
e) Unavailable time is measured in 24-hour increments.
f) Disciplinary follow-up may occur each time the employee exhausts
their points (balance reaches or falls below zero).
g) Each employee has electronic access to their point record.
* Any addition or deduction in points is reflected in this record.
* Point deductions are preceded by a seven day "pending" period
before the deduction occurs. Employees with questions or
concerns regarding the deduction should discuss it with their
supervisor during that pending period.
2. Good Attendance Credits
a) An employee is awarded a Good Attendance Credit (worth 5 points)
for any 25-day period in which they are marked up and available to
work without an unavailable event and in which they are not
otherwise absent from work.
b) Good Attendance Credits are earned for any 25-day period if the
employee:
i. Has no Unavailable events, EMC, LOC or NOS.
ii. Has not otherwise been absent for any reason, apart from the
paid leaves listed below:
- Training/Rules (CBT/RUL/LAH/ERC/DRT/CRN)
- Engineer Training (LET)
- Working lite duty (LIT)
- Company business (LCB)
- Layoff Investigation (LOI)
- Layoff Jury Duty (LOJ)
- Death in family (DIF)
- Critical incident report (CIR)
- Military leave/NGD with supporting LES/orders
iii. Has no absences/leave other than those listed in 2.b.ii
(e.g. does not have FML/PFM, FUR, LAM, LDR, LSP, LXD, MED,
HFS, LAB, R79, PLD, SUA/SUT, UNB, VAC, etc.).
c) An employee's point total cannot exceed 30 through Good Attendance
Credits.
3. Discipline (10-day, 20-day, and Dismissal)
a) When an employee exhausts their points (balance reaches or falls
below zero), they are subject to discipline.
b) When an employee violates the TYE Attendance Guidelines. The first
Attendance infraction will result in a 10-day suspension with a
12-month review period. A second Attendance infraction will result
in a 20-day suspension with a 24-month review period. Finally, if
an employee has a third Attendance infraction, they are subject to
dismissal. If an employee remains Attendance discipline free during
their review period, then their Attendance progression is reset.
c) In accordance with BNSF's Policy for Employee Performance
Accountability, where the Attendance Guidelines provide for an
imposition of a Suspension, a supervisor has the discretion to
impose an Actual or Record Suspension.
d) In addition to the discipline schedule described above, dismissal
may occur if an employee has either (1) two active Attendance
Guidelines violations and an active Level S violation, or (2) five
rule violations of any kind in a 12-month period (which may include
any combination of Standard, Serious, and Attendance Guidelines
violations).
e) Maintaining a positive point balance does not preclude the company
from challenging an employee's full-time status requirement based
on another reasonable standard.
TYE Attendance Guidelines are not intended to assess points for use of
any legally protected leaves such as FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act)
or other leaves of absences that are properly certified and/or
documented.
BNSF leadership should consider all relevant information when using the
Guidelines. In every case, they should apply the Guidelines with
consistency and common sense.
TYE Attendance FAQs are available on the LR Website. Under "Employee
Performance Expectations" select "Attendance Guidelines and Information"
and then "Attendance Guidelines FAQs". Along with other important
information, the FAQs clarify and explain concepts not specifically
mentioned in the Guidelines.
NOTE: Being unaware of your point total is not an excuse for exhausting
your points.
