HR & Compliance |11 min read

You Asked, We Answered – “Is the Friday after Thanksgiving paid??” – HR Tuesday AMA with CEDR (November 2024)

Did anyone else blink, and suddenly it was November?

We sure did. 

Happy holiday season, AADOM! This month, we got some great questions about holidays (which is a recurring theme in our world this time of year) and a bonus question about how to handle a situation where an employee is refusing to treat a patient because of their past behavior. Can you say Conflict Resolution Guide, anyone?

For those new here, we take time each month to answer questions you submit about situations you encounter in your offices. A LIVEcast accompanies each of these blogs, so be sure to tune in and watch our HR Solution Center Manager, Grace Godlasky, and AADOM superstar Heather Colicchio discuss these issues in depth and offer some extra guidance around the topics as a whole.

We answer most of your questions during these HR Tuesday segments. However, we will often answer the questions we can’t get to here on the What the Hell Just Happened?! Podcast with CEDR CEO, Paul Edwards. So be sure to subscribe to that if you haven’t already!

Remember that your daily employee interactions likely involve state, federal, or local employment laws that you must consider when trying to find the best human way to solve the core problem. We will combine the two during our answers and help you devise some great solutions.

Here are some of your best submissions this month: 

  1. “My office is closed on Thanksgiving Day and the day after. I only provide holiday pay for the day of Thanksgiving, not that Friday. One of my employees approached me last week and said I’m required to give holiday pay, so employees should be paid for Friday as well. Is this true?”
  2. “My hygienist told me that she doesn’t want to see a patient who is scheduled for a cleaning tomorrow. She says the last time he was here he was being flirtatious and making her uncomfortable. It’s too late to cancel this appointment and she’s the only hygienist working tomorrow. What should I do?”
  3. “I’d like to do something nice for the team for a holiday party this year because they worked so hard, and I know they would enjoy an evening of good food and drinks. Are there any issues with paying for alcohol at a work event?”

Let’s Get to the Answers:

Is the Friday after Thanksgiving a paid holiday?

Question: “My office is closed on Thanksgiving Day and the day after. I only provide holiday pay for the day of Thanksgiving, not that Friday. One of my employees approached me last week and said I’m required to give holiday pay, so employees should be paid for Friday as well. Is this true?”

The Legal Side of Things: Every time a holiday comes around, employers frantically reach out to us to confirm that they aren’t breaking federal law by not providing holiday pay. Rest easy – with very few exceptions, private employers are not legally required to provide holiday pay.

Thanksgiving is a “federal holiday,” which means the federal government is closed, and federal government employees get holiday pay. This has no implication at all for a private employer.

This means that holiday closures and pay are entirely up to you and what your handbook says. This is a great example of why it’s so important that your employees read and sign the handbook. Your handbook should clearly outline your holiday policy, so employees know what to expect from the get-go.

Note that exempt salaried employees still need to receive their regular salaries when you’re closed for a holiday, even if you don’t provide “holiday pay.” This is because of rules that restrict the ability to prorate pay for exempt salaried employees.

Now for the Human Approach: It’s not uncommon for employees to claim holiday pay is required for federal holidays or to expect overtime pay for working on a holiday. It’s completely understandable that there’s confusion around this due to the difference between employment laws that apply to government and non-government employees. The fact that all the calendars label “federal holidays” doesn’t help!

As we mentioned above, having a concise policy in your handbook makes answering their questions easy because all you have to do is refer to what your handbook says about holiday pay.

That said, there’s more you can do at the beginning of the year to help reduce the amount of questions you get once the holiday season rolls around. Get ahead of things by making decisions regarding your holiday schedule before the start of the calendar year and share this information with your staff.

For example, our HR team sends a holiday calendar to all CEDR employees in December that lists each holiday for the following year and when it will be observed. Our whole team then knows what to expect and can plan their days off accordingly.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Review your Employee Handbook to confirm which holidays you’ve identified as being typically observed by your business.
  2. Look at the calendar to see where each holiday falls during your work week.
  3. Decide which days you will close for each holiday, if any, and whether employees will be paid for each of those holiday closures. For example, if Christmas fell on a Tuesday this year, you could close on Monday and Tuesday to have a long weekend without a split. You can also forgo a holiday closure if you wish: If you usually close for New Year’s Day but it falls on a weekend, you might choose not to close at all for that holiday.
  4. Make a list of the holiday closure schedule for the year, and use the HR Vault (FREE to AADOM members!) to share the list with your team.
  5. Make sure your holidays are also blocked on your team/patient calendar.
  6. Provide your list of holidays to your timekeeping administrator so that the holiday schedule is set up for the entire year ahead of time for payroll purposes.

Want to learn more? Check out Episode 301 of “What the Hell Just Happened?!” to learn more about being prepared for year-round holiday pay.

Question: “My hygienist told me that she doesn’t want to see a patient who is scheduled for a cleaning tomorrow. She says the last time he was here he was being flirtatious and making her uncomfortable. It’s too late to cancel this appointment and she’s the only hygienist working tomorrow. What should I do?”

The Legal Side of Things: This is a scenario where it’s really important to understand sexual harassment laws. These federal, state, and local laws require employers to maintain a workplace that is free from sexual harassment. Allowing a patient or other third party like a vendor to harass an employee violates those laws.

If you were to be aware of an employee behaving in an inappropriate manner toward another team member, you would need to take firm corrective action immediately or even terminate the offending employee.

This same type of response needs to be taken here.

Making an employee interact with a patient who is known to engage in sexually harassing behavior creates an uncomfortable situation for your employee, and potentially opens you up to a legal claim for allowing that type of behavior in your workplace.

Now for the Human Approach: Make sure your employee knows that you are taking this concern seriously. Ask your hygienist for specifics of what this patient said and did during prior visits to the office. This should be done confidentially and sensitively to ensure she feels supported and heard.

Reassure her that you appreciate her raising her concerns and that you want to know about any inappropriate behavior from patients. Ask that if something like this happens again, to tell you about it immediately. It is a lot harder to deal with months later and when the patient is about to return to the office.

The fact that this issue surrounds a patient can muddy the waters when trying to decide what to do, as you’re trying to balance your hygienist’s concerns against keeping a patient. It may be helpful to take the fact that this is a patient out of the equation.

Consider what you would do if this was an issue with another employee.

  • Based on what you’ve been told, would you be asking the other person for their side of the story?
  • Speaking to them about their behavior and telling them you expect them to make immediate changes?
  • Separating the two employees from each other so they aren’t directly working together?
  • Terminating them?

Next translate that into how to take that approach with your patient.

You may feel ok about having them come in for treatment with the doctor instead of the hygienist, or speaking to them about their behavior. Or, you may feel that the situation is too uncomfortable to move forward. Your ethical rules regarding patient care and dismissal will need to dictate immediate next steps.

To proactively address future problems, you can offer training for all staff on how to handle difficult patient interactions, including de-escalation techniques and when it’s appropriate to remove oneself from a situation.

For more detailed guidance on managing such conflicts and ensuring your practice remains a supportive and safe environment for all employees, download the complimentary guide to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace.

Question: “I’d like to do something nice for the team for a holiday party this year because they worked so hard, and I know they would enjoy an evening of good food and drinks. Are there any issues with paying for alcohol at a work event?”

The Legal Side of Things: There are always risks when alcohol is involved. Impaired driving is the most obvious, and liability for injuries is highly dependent upon your state and the facts of the situation.

Alcohol consumption can also lead to people doing and saying things that they likely know better about when they’re sober. It may be a party, but it’s still a work function, so you have a responsibility to watch for inappropriate behavior and address anything that happens so it doesn’t spill over into your workplace and create an uncomfortable working environment or even a harassment claim.

We regularly get requests for some type of liability waiver to remove all of these risks. Unfortunately, a waiver isn’t going to remove the inherent risks of having a party involving alcohol. Employees cannot sign away their legally protected rights or relieve their employer of legal obligations.

You can follow the guidance below to limit your exposure to any issues.

Now for the Human Approach: Serving alcohol at holiday parties does come with its own set of HR risks, but that doesn’t mean you need to take it off the table completely! You just need to go through the right steps to lower these risks and limit your liability in case something goes wrong.

For starters, pick the right location. We recommend holding the party off company property, and not hosting at someone’s home. Instead, hold it somewhere that isn’t tied to work, like a room at a restaurant or a private event space. Ideally, your venue will come with its own bartender, so there’s someone in charge of portion control. You can also limit consumption by giving drink tickets and/or limiting drink options.

While it may be an unpopular opinion, we recommend having the party on a weeknight. This can help reduce the risk of overdrinking since employees know they still have to show up to work the next day.

Last but certainly not least, make safety a priority. The last thing you want is an employee getting a DUI or hurting someone driving themselves home.

If you’re going to serve alcohol, make sure there’s a way for employees to get home safely. An easy solution is a company Uber or Lyft account that employees can use to call their own ride.

Extra credit listening: “What the Hell Just Happened?!” – Episode 207: Holiday Party Guidance

Extra credit reading: Office Holiday Party Guidance

Remember, CEDR is here for AADOM members to tackle any and all HR issues that may arise within your practice. Being an Office Manager is tough enough without having to manage all your employee issues alone. Reach out to us today, and let’s build a better workplace together. 

 

Ready to take your dental career to the next level? Join AADOM today!

 

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