(a) Each employee is expected to be available to work as scheduled, to be at work at the beginning of his/her assigned shift and to work until the end of the assigned shift unless prior approval to do otherwise has been received.

(b) If an employee is unable to report to work as scheduled, will be late, or will need to leave early, he/she must report this information to their supervisor as soon as possible.

(c) Any employee not notifying the supervisor or not reporting to work at his/her scheduled start time will be considered to be on unauthorized leave.

(d) Late arrival on a regular basis is inexcusable and will not be tolerated. Late arrival is defined as any situation where an employee reports to work after his/her scheduled starting time.

(e) In addition, if an employee is late, that employee may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, unless he/she offers, to the supervisor, a written reason for being late which is deemed acceptable.

(f) Excessive absenteeism may result in disciplinary action and will be based on frequency of occurrences and in accordance with the following: any day that an employee is absent is considered an occurrence for absenteeism purposes, although consecutive absences will be recorded as "one occurrence," regardless of the number of days of duration.

(g) If an employee is excused, in advance, from scheduled work, such absences will not count as an absence occurrence.

(h) An employee absent for three (3) consecutive workdays without notifying his/her supervisor will be considered voluntary termination.