Business Hours:

• See management as to current business hours. Business hours may be changed at the discretion of management should it be deemed beneficial to the practice. The amount and exact hours an employee works vary depending on the employee's position (part-time vs. full-time, doctor vs. non-doctor) and are decided at the discretion of management.

General Scheduling Guidelines:

• ​The hours and shifts worked by employees are always first decided based on the needs of the practice and may change as business needs change. Employees will be notified in advance of significant alterations in general hospital hours.

• While we try hard to accomplish consistency and equity in scheduling days off, weekends, evening shifts, etc., we make no guarantee of set work days, weekends, evening shifts, or days, off. Furthermore, we make no guarantee that weekends, evenings, etc., will be divided equally since employees will posses different skills which hold special importance for certain work hours which require their presence as opposed to other     employees. If an employee is needed to work every weekend or during evenings, management has the prerogative to alter that employee's schedule accordingly. Days off will generally be offered on days which are typically the least busy. 

• Only after all the needs of the business have been met will employee scheduling requests be considered.

• All requests and changes in schedule MUST be approved by management.

​Inclimate Weather & Winter Slow Season: (Non veterinary staff only)

• There are very infrequent occasions in which, due to inclimate weather (i.e. Snow storms, natural disasters), or general stagnation of business during certain winter months, that an otherwise full-time staff member may be asked not to attempt to come to work due to hazardous conditions, or be asked to leave work early due to stagnation of business, resulting in loss of pay for the missed hours.

​Leaving Before Your Scheduled Shift Is Over:

• ​In the case that all your daily work is completed for a given shift prior to the time at which you are scheduled to leave; you are required to ask management before leaving early for the day. This gives management a chance to insure that your services are not needed elsewhere before releasing you. In addition, you may not simply “Hang Out” if your work is over to accrue hours. Approach management to find out if you are needed elsewhere before leaving. Employees caught “milking” hours will be subject to dismissal. Finally, as stated above staff members may not clock-in more than 10 minutes earlier than their scheduled shift without explicit managerial approval.

​Holiday Pay Schedule:

• ​Holiday pay will only be given if an employee works his or her last scheduled working day before, AND first scheduled work day after a holiday. Failure to meet this requirement for any reason, other than a management initiated scheduling situation, will result in the loss of holiday pay for that holiday.

• In addition, vacation requests which either immediately precede, immediately follow, or encompass a holiday, if granted, will cause an automatic loss of holiday pay for the holiday in question.

​Overtime Hours: 

• ​Employees are only permitted to stay past their scheduled shift or clock-in earlier than their scheduled shift if specifically asked to do so by management. Overtime pay will not be granted unless the employee can show that this was the cause of his or her additional hours. Management may resolve excessive overtime requests by altering an employee's schedule so as to allow all work to be completed during scheduled hours.

​Shift Switching:

• ​Under certain circumstances, staff members are permitted to exchange work shifts with one another. When such switching occurs, the following criteria/steps/considerations must all be followed:

  • ​You may only switch shifts with a staff member who possesses the skills required to cover the shift for which you are swapping (conversely, you must possess the skills needed to perform the shift you are covering in exchange).

  • You must always notify management that you have arranged a shift switch

  • You may NOT swap shifts if such swapping forces either yourself or the other party to accrue OVERTIME pay due to the switch.

  • If you initiate a shift switch, YOU are responsible for the swap actually happening. If the person you made the arrangement with fails to follow through on the switch, it will be treated as if YOU failed to fulfill your shift and are thereby subject to the policies put forth in this manual.