DLR attendance policy

[TP2000]

So you are allowed to get sick 3 days a year. Well, you or your dependents. You get 3 more unpaid sick days. After that, you're getting disciplinary action. Considering a cold or flu might knock be down for 2 days, I can get sick 2-3 times per year max. And hopefully a family member doesn't take ill and need me to stay home with them or drive them to an appointment.

No, that's not it.

A CM earns paid sick hours to use, discipline-free. The highly tenured full-time CM is getting 56 to 80 paid sick hours per year. A part-time CM who works less hours may only get 40 paid sick hours per year, but then they have less shifts to worry about. The union contract allows for sick hours to roll over from year to year, up to a max of 240 sick hours that can be "banked". (Once they hit 240 hours of sick pay, they need to cash some of it out via payroll.)

If a CM uses their paid sick time to cover their missed shifts, there is no discipline for any of those absences. So for a full-timer, that's two weeks of paid sick days per year that have no discipline attached to them.

If you don't use your paid sick time to cover a sick day, or have none left to use, you can only miss 25 scheduled hours before you receive your first warning. So, a full-timer who has already used up all of their sick time could miss an additional three 8 hour shifts and not get a warning, but on that fourth shift they miss without using sick pay they trigger their first warning.

A part-timer ("Casual Regular" in Disneyspeak) could miss four 6 hour shifts and not get a warning, but on their fifth missed shift they'd trigger their first warning.

It all seems rather fair and normal to me. The average CM can miss 10 or 12 days of work per year due to illness and not receive any discipline.

https://cepfranco.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/employee-policy-manual-02-2016.pdf

 

[lazyboy97o]

So you are allowed to get sick 3 days a year. Well, you or your dependents. You get 3 more unpaid sick days. After that, you're getting disciplinary action. Considering a cold or flu might knock be down for 2 days, I can get sick 2-3 times per year max. And hopefully a family member doesn't take ill and need me to stay home with them or drive them to an appointment.

The flu can easily be 5 days, plus the 24 hours after symptoms subside. Six days can easily be a single illness.

 

[TP2000]

What's also fascinating, and funny, is that this all seems to be on the honor system. No documentation seems to be required.

Just keep saying you were sick which is an "acceptable absence", instead of saying you stayed home to binge watch Netflix or you had tickets to Coachella which is an "unacceptable absence", and you're good.

 

[TP2000]

The flu can easily be 5 days, plus the 24 hours after symptoms subside. Six days can easily be a single illness.

And so long as the CM used their accrued sick hours to cover that six days of illness, there is no discipline attached to that and it is not tracked for disciplinary purposes on the rolling 12 month calendar.

However, if a CM gets the flu three times per year and to such an extent they have to stay home for six days for each flu they get, then there's going to be at least a Verbal Warning attached to that series of absences. Unless they had extra banked sick hours that rolled over from the previous year to use to cover it all, of course.

I would question though if a person who is that susceptible to flu and it knocks them down that hard each time they get it, that a job working as an hourly CM at Disneyland is the right fit for them. The place is a madhouse of germs and massive crowds!

 

[Professortango1]

And so long as the CM used their accrued sick hours to cover that six days of illness, there is no discipline attached to that and it is not tracked for disciplinary purposes on the rolling 12 month calendar.

However, if a CM gets the flu three times per year and to such an extent they have to stay home for six days for each flu they get, then there's going to be at least a Verbal Warning attached to that series of absences. Unless they had extra banked sick hours that rolled over from the previous year to use to cover it all, of course.

I would question though if a person who is that susceptible to flu and it knocks them down that hard each time they get it, that a job working as an hourly CM at Disneyland is the right fit for them. The place is a madhouse of germs and massive crowds!

Do their sick days rollover? I know at my job I have to use them by July 1st or they are forfeited.

 

[TP2000]

Do their sick days rollover? I know at my job I have to use them by July 1st or they are forfeited.

According to the Employee Policy Manual that I posted a link to (the PDF file), sick days roll over from year to year until they reach 240 hours.

Once a CM has 240 hours of sick pay banked, they stop accruing them and need to use them and/or cash them out. Twice per year CM's have the ability to "cash out" any unused sick hours they'd like to get down below 120 hours of banked time again.

 

[Disstevefan1]

And so long as the CM used their accrued sick hours to cover that six days of illness, there is no discipline attached to that and it is not tracked for disciplinary purposes on the rolling 12 month calendar.

However, if a CM gets the flu three times per year and to such an extent they have to stay home for six days for each flu they get, then there's going to be at least a Verbal Warning attached to that series of absences. Unless they had extra banked sick hours that rolled over from the previous year to use to cover it all, of course.

I would question though if a person who is that susceptible to flu and it knocks them down that hard each time they get it, that a job working as an hourly CM at Disneyland is the right fit for them. The place is a madhouse of germs and massive crowds!

Now THATS what I call a SUPER SPREADER EVENT!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Do their sick days rollover? I know at my job I have to use them by July 1st or they are forfeited.

Disney is short staffed. They need new employees. Rolling over is nice but doesn’t address the now.

 

[Phroobar]

According to the Employee Policy Manual that I posted a link to (the PDF file), sick days roll over from year to year until they reach 240 hours.

Once a CM has 240 hours of sick pay banked, they stop accruing them and need to use them and/or cash them out. Twice per year CM's have the ability to "cash out" any unused sick hours they'd like to get down below 120 hours of banked time again.

They get to cash out sick days? Usually it is vacation pay that works that way.

 

[Professortango1]

They get to cash out sick days? Usually it is vacation pay that works that way.

They might count it all as PTO. My employer is moving to that model with PTO, Vacation, Sick all being one pooled account.

 

[denyuntilcaught]

They might count it all as PTO. My employer is moving to that model with PTO, Vacation, Sick all being one pooled account.

I like that idea. Even better is the idea of unlimited PTO. Great work benefit and statically results in people taking less PTO, though it again sounds shiny on paper and saves the company a ton of money in PTO payouts upon departure.

Doesn't work in DLR's case, but I'm just saying.

 

[TP2000]

They get to cash out sick days? Usually it is vacation pay that works that way.

Since at least 2016, as the Walt Disney Company Employee Policy Manual that I found online stated that. But as it's presented there so matter-of-fact, it seems that policy had been in place prior to 2016.

It's a very generous policy for private industry.

Under "Rules For Eligible Hourly Employees" on Page 47...

"Accrued unused sick time carries over from year to year, up to a cap of 240 hours. Upon reaching the cap, employees will not accrue additional sick time until they use some of their existing sick time. Twice yearly, employees will have the opportunity to receive a buyout of available sick time over 120 hours, which will be paid in a lump sum at the employee’s regular rate of pay then in effect. Unused sick time will be paid out upon termination."

https://cepfranco.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/employee-policy-manual-02-2016.pdf

 

[TP2000]

They might count it all as PTO. My employer is moving to that model with PTO, Vacation, Sick all being one pooled account.

That kind of model makes so much sense! I wish they'd had that when I was in my career years. I was rarely sick. But I love to travel and took as many vacations as I could piece together.

But when I was sick with a rare cold, my old Scandinavian work ethic pushed me in to work anyway. I always assumed that's why they packaged Nyquil and Dayquil in the box together; when I wasn't feeling well, I took the Dayquil before I went in to the office, then I took the Nyquil when I got home.

 

[TP2000]

So now that we've cut through some of the online hyperbole and cleared up the misinformation that Disneyland CM's only get three sick days per year before they "get fired!", I take it folks are feeling better about this whole thing?

I printed out the new attendance policy and read over it (I need to read contracts on real paper to wrap my mind around them), and it seems rather generous and fairly standard....

Let's say there's a CM working as a line cook at Carnation Cafe. She's worked there for 3 years, mostly full-time now, and she's earning 56 hours of sick time per year. She begins calendar year 2023 with 72 hours of sick time in her "bank".

In January she gets the flu and calls out sick:
Thursday, January 19th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, January 20th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, January 21st - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, January 22nd - Day Off
Monday, January 23rd - Day Off

She returns to work on Tuesday, January 24th and has used 24 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 48 hours of sick time left in her bank.

Six weeks later she has earned an additional 8 hours of sick time, and she gets a bad cold.

Tuesday, March 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Wednesday, March 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Thursday, March 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, March 10th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence

She returns to work on Saturday and has used 32 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so still no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 16 hours of sick time left in her bank. Spring arrives, and now things go really crazy, and she starts calling out for a bunch of shifts and labeling them as "sick". She's only earned 8 hours of sick pay since her last illness, and so she only has 24 hours in her sick time bank when this happens...

Friday, April 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, April 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, April 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Monday, April 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Tuesday, April 11th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

When she returns to work after 5 days of absences, she's got 16 hours of "Unexcused Absences" logged. She faces no discipline for that, but the system is tracking it now.

Friday, April 20th - Call Sick (cough, cough, Coachella tickets), No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Saturday, April 21st - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

On her Friday missed shift she got up to 24 hours of Unexcused Absences, no discipline is triggered but she's right up against the line. She then misses her Saturday shift, and that's what finally pushes her over into discipline with 32 hours of missed shifts. She triggers for a Verbal Warning from her Dockers-clad manager when she returns to work the following week. Now she's being tracked in the disciplinary system, but she's barely earning about 8 hours of sick time per month.

Friday, May 3rd - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Time Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, May 4th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Sunday, May 5th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's missed three days of work, but only one of them is "Excused". She's now at 24 hours of missed shifts since her last discipline, so she's right up against the line for her next warning.

Friday, May 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She returns to work after just that one day of absence, but she's gone past 24 hours of missed shifts since her Verbal Warning so her Dockers-clad manager sits her down a second time and gives her a Written Warning.

To speed this sad process along, we'll just keep making her miss shifts before she can accrue any more Sick Time in her bank.

Wednesday, May 15th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 16th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 17th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

If she returns to work on Saturday, May 18th she'll be fine. No discipline is triggered and the Dockers-clad manager leaves her alone. But...

Saturday, May 18th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Availiable = Unexcused Absence

She did it again! She went past 24 shift hours of Unexcused Absences since her last discipline. She returns to work on her next scheduled shift on Tuesday and gets a Last & Final Written Warning from her manager. She's on really thin ice now! But before she can earn any more Sick Time in her bank...

Wednesday, May 22nd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 23rd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 24th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's now had 24 hours of Unexcused Absences since her Last & Final Written Warning and she's about to lose her job. If she stops missing shifts at this point, she can recover. She can return to work, earn Sick Time to use for herself later in the calendar year, and keep her job and go on to become the Disneyland President in 2048. But...

Saturday, May 25th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

That did it. That final shift pushed her past 24 hours of absences and she's been Terminated. Her Dockers-clad manager meets her at her next shift with a concerned look on his face and gives her the final paycheck on her way out to the gate. Buh-bye.

 

[TP2000]

But what did it take for Miss Carnation Cafe to get to that point of Termination? She started the year with 72 hours of sick time in her bank. And she earned an additional 16 hours over the next four months.

To get fired she had to start by missing eleven (11) shifts that used up all of her Sick Time. Then she had to miss an additional 15 shifts in fairly quick succession over the next two months before she could earn more Sick Time. And in the process she received three formal warnings from a Dockers-clad manager with a concerned look on his face.

So in total, this mid-seniority CM with 72 hours of banked Sick Time missed 26 separate 8-hour shifts over a period of four quick months in order to finally be Terminated.

That scenario could be sped up to only 15 missed shifts needed for Termination if the CM was new and had zero or only 16 or 24 hours of Sick Time to use, or if you start throwing in a bunch of Tardies with the absences. Or it could be slowed down considerably if the CM started the year with 104 or 112 hours of Sick Time to use. It could even theoretically never happen, with maybe a CM only getting a Verbal Warning once per year as they rode the line and kept track of their Sick Time accruals. Using Sick Time even just for one 8 hour shift in a three-day absence really extends the discipline process out to almost nothing.

 

[TP2000]

And finally, using the scenario of a brand new CM who has no accrued Sick Time, that CM would need to miss 16 separate 8 hour shifts in order to go through all three formal warnings and then be Terminated.

If that brand new "Casual Regular" (part-time) CM was getting shorter shifts (very likely for a new CM) that were only 6 hours long, it actually becomes 20 separate 6 hour shifts they must be absent from in order to be Terminated. Because the trigger for the next discipline is always 25 missed hours of work, not missed shifts regardless of shift length.

So... how many shifts do people think a CM should be able to miss in their brand new job before they get fired?

This new attendance policy seems very standard, even a tad lenient. Especially if a CM knows how to play the game, ride the line, and keeps track of their Sick Time accrual and applies it to missed shifts smartly.

 

[SaucyBoy]

So now that we've cut through some of the online hyperbole and cleared up the misinformation that Disneyland CM's only get three sick days per year before they "get fired!", I take it folks are feeling better about this whole thing?

I printed out the new attendance policy and read over it (I need to read contracts on real paper to wrap my mind around them), and it seems rather generous and fairly standard....

Let's say there's a CM working as a line cook at Carnation Cafe. She's worked there for 3 years, mostly full-time now, and she's earning 56 hours of sick time per year. She begins calendar year 2023 with 72 hours of sick time in her "bank".

In January she gets the flu and calls out sick:
Thursday, January 19th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, January 20th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, January 21st - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, January 22nd - Day Off
Monday, January 23rd - Day Off

She returns to work on Tuesday, January 24th and has used 24 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 48 hours of sick time left in her bank.

Six weeks later she has earned an additional 8 hours of sick time, and she gets a bad cold.

Tuesday, March 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Wednesday, March 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Thursday, March 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, March 10th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence

She returns to work on Saturday and has used 32 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so still no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 16 hours of sick time left in her bank. Spring arrives, and now things go really crazy, and she starts calling out for a bunch of shifts and labeling them as "sick". She's only earned 8 hours of sick pay since her last illness, and so she only has 24 hours in her sick time bank when this happens...

Friday, April 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, April 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, April 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Monday, April 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Tuesday, April 11th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

When she returns to work after 5 days of absences, she's got 16 hours of "Unexcused Absences" logged. She faces no discipline for that, but the system is tracking it now.

Friday, April 20th - Call Sick (cough, cough, Coachella tickets), No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Saturday, April 21st - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

On her Friday missed shift she got up to 24 hours of Unexcused Absences, no discipline is triggered but she's right up against the line. She then misses her Saturday shift, and that's what finally pushes her over into discipline with 32 hours of missed shifts. She triggers for a Verbal Warning from her Dockers-clad manager when she returns to work the following week. Now she's being tracked in the disciplinary system, but she's barely earning about 8 hours of sick time per month.

Friday, May 3rd - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Time Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, May 4th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Sunday, May 5th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's missed three days of work, but only one of them is "Excused". She's now at 24 hours of missed shifts since her last discipline, so she's right up against the line for her next warning.

Friday, May 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She returns to work after just that one day of absence, but she's gone past 24 hours of missed shifts since her Verbal Warning so her Dockers-clad manager sits her down a second time and gives her a Written Warning.

To speed this sad process along, we'll just keep making her miss shifts before she can accrue any more Sick Time in her bank.

Wednesday, May 15th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 16th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 17th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

If she returns to work on Saturday, May 18th she'll be fine. No discipline is triggered and the Dockers-clad manager leaves her alone. But...

Saturday, May 18th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Availiable = Unexcused Absence

She did it again! She went past 24 shift hours of Unexcused Absences since her last discipline. She returns to work on her next scheduled shift on Tuesday and gets a Last & Final Written Warning from her manager. She's on really thin ice now! But before she can earn any more Sick Time in her bank...

Wednesday, May 22nd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 23rd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 24th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's now had 24 hours of Unexcused Absences since her Last & Final Written Warning and she's about to lose her job. If she stops missing shifts at this point, she can recover. She can return to work, earn Sick Time to use for herself later in the calendar year, and keep her job and go on to become the Disneyland President in 2048. But...

Saturday, May 25th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

That did it. That final shift pushed her past 24 hours of absences and she's been Terminated. Her Dockers-clad manager meets her at her next shift with a concerned look on his face and gives her the final paycheck on her way out to the gate. Buh-bye.

Granted, I know you're using an extreme example but it shouldn't be this convoluted to use your sick leave.

 

[TP2000]

Granted, I know you're using an extreme example but it shouldn't be this convoluted to use your sick leave.

How would you have employees apply their accrued sick time to unplanned absences?

 

[SaucyBoy]

How would you apply accrued sick time to unplanned absences?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the process but don't you just indicate in the system that you're using sick leave? When I was a CM at WDW (to be fair), all I had to do was log into the Hub, hit the call out button, and then let it know I was using sick pay. Is that not how it works now or am I just being dense? Maybe I've had one too many vodka sprites.

 

[Disney Analyst]

So now that we've cut through some of the online hyperbole and cleared up the misinformation that Disneyland CM's only get three sick days per year before they "get fired!", I take it folks are feeling better about this whole thing?

I printed out the new attendance policy and read over it (I need to read contracts on real paper to wrap my mind around them), and it seems rather generous and fairly standard....

Let's say there's a CM working as a line cook at Carnation Cafe. She's worked there for 3 years, mostly full-time now, and she's earning 56 hours of sick time per year. She begins calendar year 2023 with 72 hours of sick time in her "bank".

In January she gets the flu and calls out sick:
Thursday, January 19th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, January 20th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, January 21st - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, January 22nd - Day Off
Monday, January 23rd - Day Off

She returns to work on Tuesday, January 24th and has used 24 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 48 hours of sick time left in her bank.

Six weeks later she has earned an additional 8 hours of sick time, and she gets a bad cold.

Tuesday, March 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Wednesday, March 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Thursday, March 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Friday, March 10th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence

She returns to work on Saturday and has used 32 hours of Sick Time to excuse her absences, so still no discipline is triggered and no tracking of absences occur. She has 16 hours of sick time left in her bank. Spring arrives, and now things go really crazy, and she starts calling out for a bunch of shifts and labeling them as "sick". She's only earned 8 hours of sick pay since her last illness, and so she only has 24 hours in her sick time bank when this happens...

Friday, April 7th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, April 8th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Sunday, April 9th - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Pay Used = Excused Absence
Monday, April 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Tuesday, April 11th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

When she returns to work after 5 days of absences, she's got 16 hours of "Unexcused Absences" logged. She faces no discipline for that, but the system is tracking it now.

Friday, April 20th - Call Sick (cough, cough, Coachella tickets), No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Saturday, April 21st - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

On her Friday missed shift she got up to 24 hours of Unexcused Absences, no discipline is triggered but she's right up against the line. She then misses her Saturday shift, and that's what finally pushes her over into discipline with 32 hours of missed shifts. She triggers for a Verbal Warning from her Dockers-clad manager when she returns to work the following week. Now she's being tracked in the disciplinary system, but she's barely earning about 8 hours of sick time per month.

Friday, May 3rd - Call Sick, 8 Hours Sick Time Used = Excused Absence
Saturday, May 4th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Sunday, May 5th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's missed three days of work, but only one of them is "Excused". She's now at 24 hours of missed shifts since her last discipline, so she's right up against the line for her next warning.

Friday, May 10th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She returns to work after just that one day of absence, but she's gone past 24 hours of missed shifts since her Verbal Warning so her Dockers-clad manager sits her down a second time and gives her a Written Warning.

To speed this sad process along, we'll just keep making her miss shifts before she can accrue any more Sick Time in her bank.

Wednesday, May 15th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 16th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 17th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

If she returns to work on Saturday, May 18th she'll be fine. No discipline is triggered and the Dockers-clad manager leaves her alone. But...

Saturday, May 18th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Availiable = Unexcused Absence

She did it again! She went past 24 shift hours of Unexcused Absences since her last discipline. She returns to work on her next scheduled shift on Tuesday and gets a Last & Final Written Warning from her manager. She's on really thin ice now! But before she can earn any more Sick Time in her bank...

Wednesday, May 22nd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Thursday, May 23rd - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence
Friday, May 24th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

She's now had 24 hours of Unexcused Absences since her Last & Final Written Warning and she's about to lose her job. If she stops missing shifts at this point, she can recover. She can return to work, earn Sick Time to use for herself later in the calendar year, and keep her job and go on to become the Disneyland President in 2048. But...

Saturday, May 25th - Call Sick, No Sick Time Available = Unexcused Absence

That did it. That final shift pushed her past 24 hours of absences and she's been Terminated. Her Dockers-clad manager meets her at her next shift with a concerned look on his face and gives her the final paycheck on her way out to the gate. Buh-bye.

It does seem unlikely to have a scenario like this, so it's interesting to see it laid out like you have.

Only time I really see this scenario coming into play is if someone isn't sick and is calling out due to other jobs and schooling etc, which may make it more common, risking termination, especially if scheduling is cluster.

My first job was at a restaurant, age 14. Started as a busboy, then host, then server/bartender (worked there for 6 years consecutively, then another 3 years when I was back in town for holidays between school terms).

In that 9 years of working at this restaurant, I called out sick maybe 5 times.