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In the Golden State, the answer to “What are attendance points?” is this: Employers assign points to certain attendance events and use the total to track when discipline should follow. Sounds pretty straightforward. But when your employer uses this system, clocking a few late arrivals or missed days at a warehouse in Chatsworth, a hospital shift near Westwood, or a production job in Hollywood can start to feel less like isolated problems and more like an unfair scorecard.
The system itself is not automatically illegal. Unfortunately, when a point-based attendance policy treats legally protected time away from work the same as an ordinary unexcused absence, it can create problems. California workers have protections tied to paid sick leave, disability-related leave, pregnancy, family and medical leave, or other legally protected reasons for missing work. So when an employer adds points anyway, the policy may cross from strict into unlawful.
For employees across Los Angeles, the key question is not simply how many points appear on the attendance record. It is whether each point should be there in the first place. Keep reading to discover how attendance point systems work, their legal implications, and why they may not always align with federal and state laws protecting employee rights.
Key Takeaways
- Attendance point systems assign points for tardiness or absence, potentially leading to discipline or termination.
- Legally, these systems must exclude protected absences like medical leave.
- Companies often implement these systems aiming to improve productivity but may inadvertently penalize legally protected absences, violating anti-discrimination laws.
- Attendance policies must excuse absences for legally protected reasons, including medical, disability, and sick leave, to comply with EEOC regulations.
The Legality of Absence Management: Understanding “Reasonable Attendance Policies”
Many employers have implemented so-called “no-fault” attendance policies that count all absences—regardless of the reason—against employees, with some specific number of absences leading to discipline or even termination. These policies are sometimes called “reasonable attendance policies.”
If these policies do not exclude absences for legally protected reasons, like a disability or using paid sick leave, they are illegal.
Under both California state and federal law, attendance policies must exclude protected absences, such as sick leave or disability-based leave, from counting towards any employee discipline. Los Angeles employees who are victims of an illegal attendance policy may have individual claims as well as class action claims on behalf of themselves and their colleagues.
Employees who are victims of an illegal attendance policy may have individual claims as well as class action claims on behalf of themselves and their colleagues.
What Are Attendance Points & What is an Attendance Points System in California?
In California, an employee point system, also known as an attendance point system, is a policy that assigns points to employees for each instance of tardiness or absence. Accumulation of a certain number of points can lead to disciplinary actions, and if the points reach a specific threshold, it may result in termination. This system is designed to promote punctuality and regular attendance, which are crucial for maintaining productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Employees typically get a “point” or multiple “points” for each absence and are disciplined, then terminated, if they get additional “points.”
Many point-based attendance policies treat all absences equally, often failing to protect special-case absences from penalties. This ‘no-fault’ approach can unfairly penalize employees regardless of the reason for their absence, a practice the EEOC identifies as potentially illegal.
Some of the biggest companies in the country use attendance points systems. These companies include Walmart and Amazon. Companies like these policies because they are supposedly neutral on their face and they strongly discourage absences, which companies believe increases productivity.
For California employees, it matters more to know whether the employer counts something as an absence the law protects. California’s Labor Commissioner prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for requesting or using paid sick leave. At the same time, the California Civil Rights Department recognizes leave for medical care and schedule changes as possible reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities.
Automated attendance records can make these policies look neutral even when the underlying absence deserves legal protection. A point on a spreadsheet says nothing about why the employee missed work. If an employer assigns points after protected sick leave, disability-related time off, or another legally protected absence, applying the policy may violate California or federal law.
How Do Attendance Points Usually Add Up?
A point-based attendance policy may assign different values depending on what happened. One employer might treat a late arrival differently from a missed shift, while another may distinguish between an ordinary call-out and a no-call/no-show.
Depending on the employer’s written policy, points may accumulate for:
- Tardiness—arriving after the scheduled start time;
- Early departures—leaving before the end of a scheduled shift;
- Call-outs—missing an entire shift after notifying the employer;
- No-call/no-shows—missing work without following the employer’s notice procedure; or
- Repeated occurrences—reaching a set number of attendance events within a defined period.
To ensure you’re not unfairly penalized, it’s always best to read the actual employee policy rather than assume that one absence equals one point. Check what triggers points, how many each occurrence carries, when disciplinary thresholds apply, how long points remain on your record, and whether the policy identifies circumstances that do not count. If your supervisor says your point total is approaching termination status, ask to see your current point total and record and compare each occurrence against the written policy.
Can My California Employer Count Sick Time, Family Leave Time, or Disability Leave Against Me?
Not every medical or family-related absence is legally protected. However, California and federal laws protect certain qualifying absences, and an employer may violate the law by assigning attendance points or disciplining an employee for protected time away from work.
The applicable protection depends on the reason for the absence.
For example:
- Paid sick leave. California employers generally cannot discipline workers for properly using accrued and available paid sick leave for a covered purpose.
- Family leave. Eligible employees may receive job-protected leave under the FMLA or California Family Rights Act (CFRA) for qualifying medical and family reasons.
- Disability leave. The ADA and California’s FEHA may require leave or a modified schedule as a reasonable accommodation.
- Pregnancy leave. California workers disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions may qualify for Pregnancy Disability Leave.
The California Labor Commissioner specifically addresses attendance policies, explaining that an employer generally cannot assign an attendance “occurrence” when an employee properly uses accrued and available paid sick leave. If that occurrence contributes to discipline or termination, the employer may violate California law.
Disability-related time off requires a separate analysis. The California Civil Rights Department identifies medical leave and schedule changes as possible reasonable accommodations. Depending on the circumstances, an employer may need to modify its attendance requirements rather than penalize an employee for disability-related time away. We cover these laws in more detail in other blog posts, which can be found here, here, and here.
Employers are Still Illegally Penalizing Employees for Protected Absences
Despite this clear legal requirement, companies still routinely impose and enforce no-fault attendance policies that fail to exclude protected absences—either because the policy itself does not contain an exemption or because the company fails in practice to remove protected absences from an employee’s personnel record.
In fact, the EEOC has been stepping up its enforcement actions against companies with no-fault attendance policies. In 2018, the EEOC settled a case against Mueller Industries, Inc. for $1 million based on the company’s no fault attendance policy that assigned points for all absences regardless of the reason. The EEOC determined that this policy, which had no exemption for individuals with disabilities, violated the ADA.
This follows a landmark settlement reached by the EEOC against Verizon in 2011 for $20 million based on similar claims and policies. At the time, this was the EEOC’s largest settlement ever. The EEOC alleged that Verizon illegally denied reasonable accommodations to hundreds of employees who took days off work for legally protected reasons.
Verizon, like many companies, had a so-called “no-fault” absence policy that counted all absences, regardless of the reason, towards the numbers set forth in a disciplinary policy. Verizon’s policy made no exceptions except for absences covered by the FMLA.
So, the EEOC alleged, Verizon was disciplining employees for absences taken for protected medical reasons, and thus was breaking the laws that require reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities.
In addition to obtaining $20 million for the affected employees, Verizon was required to revise its attendance policies to include reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, and was required to provide training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to supervisors.
Is a Points-Based Attendance Policy Legal?
Yes, attendance point systems are usually legal, unless they violate laws protecting employees with serious medical issues, disabilities, or California’s paid sick leave requirements. But it can be hard to tell where that line is. Always read your employment handbook and ask your employer how they handle the points system. And if you have questions, contact us.
Talk to an Experienced Employment Law & Discrimination Attorney
At King & Siegel LLP, we have helped hundreds of workers hold employers accountable through legal actions. If you have been discriminated against, retaliated against, denied your rightful wages, or wrongfully terminated, our attorneys are here to help.
Need legal help? We provide free, confidential consultations to California workers. You should contact us as soon as possible to make sure your claim is still within the time limits set by law. If you are a victim of wage theft or other violations of the employment laws, contact us today through our website or give us a call at (213) 465-4802 to schedule a free consultation.
Official Legal and Other Sources Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal and other sources during the content development process.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
- State of California Department of Industrial Relations: California Paid Sick Leave: Frequently Asked Questions
- Civil Rights Department of California: Reasonable Accommodation
Julian Burns King graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and founded King & Siegel in 2018. As head of the Firm’s discrimination and harassment practice areas, she champions the rights of working parents and victims of workplace discrimination and harassment. She has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers annually since 2018 and has recovered tens of millions of dollars on behalf of her clients.