Paid Time Off (PTO)

Paid Time Off (PTO) provides Beyond Spot & Dots employees with flexible paid time off from work that can be used for such needs as vacation, personal or family illness, doctor appointments, school, volunteerism, and other activities of the employee’s choice. Beyond Spots & Dots recognizes that a good work-life balance is important, and strongly encourages employees to use their PTO as it accrues.

Full time employees of Beyond Spots & Dots are entitled to paid leave based on tenure with the company. PTO Hours are allocated for the time period January 1st – December 31st of current year of employment. Pro-rated PTO hours are allocated to employees who’s employment begin dates are post January 1st.

You must be employed by Beyond Spots & Dots for at least 60 days before you may use PTO. Temporary employees, contract employees, and interns are not eligible to accrue PTO.

PTO time is accrued during the initial (60) day new-hire period for full-time employees and is added to the employee’s PTO account, on initial PTO account setup.

Each full-time employee will accrue PTO monthly in hourly increments based on their length of service as defined below. PTO may be taken in increments as short as 1 hour, so long as the time is pre-approved. PTO is added to the employee’s PTO bank on a monthly basis on the first day of each month. PTO taken will be subtracted from the employee’s accrued time bank. Eligibility to accrue PTO is contingent on the employee either working or utilizing accrued PTO for the entire month.

To take PTO requires two days of notice to the supervisor and Human Resources unless the PTO is used for legitimate, unexpected illness or emergencies. (Use the Paid Time Off form to request PTO.) In all instances, PTO must be approved by the employee’s supervisor in advance. Beyond Spots & Dots appreciates as much notice as possible when you know you expect to miss work for a scheduled absence. Human Resources and Management are responsible for tracking absenteeism.

Unused PTO at the end of the year is carried over through the month of January of the following year. All PTO balances from the prior year must be used in January and are forfeited at the end of January.

Time that is not covered by the PTO policy, and for which separate guidelines and policies exist, include company paid holidays, bereavement time off, required jury duty and a daily period of one-hour for lunch. PTO is not earned during any unpaid leave including but not limited to medical leave, maternity leave, parental leave or management approved unpaid leave.

If you have not accrued sufficient PTO, but you wish to borrow unearned PTO days, Beyond Spots & Dots allows employees to borrow days, with management approval and provided that you complete a PTO loan authorization form. If your employment ends before you earn borrowed day(s), you will be responsible for repaying the loaned PTO day(s) to Beyond Spots & Dots, which will be deducted from your final pay to the extent permitted by law.

Example: Sarah and her friends have a trip planned. Unfortunately, Sarah has not accrued enough PTO time to request for the days she needs to take off. Sarah downloads and fills out the “PTO Loan Authorization form” and speaks to her manager about borrowing from her future PTO accural balance.  Once the PTO Loan has been approved, Sarah now has the time she needs to go on her vacation. When she gets back and the approved amount of PTO time has accrued, the time borrowed is manually removed from her PTO balance and the PTO loan has been paid back.

Failure to comply with this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Beyond Spots & Dots reserves the right to enforce and take PTO hours from an employee’s bank of hours for excessive time taken for lunch and for coming into work late, leaving early or taking unapproved hours. To the extent there are issues with absenteeism and tardiness, Beyond Spots & Dots will take disciplinary actions including supervisory coaching, written warnings and employee termination.

Beyond Spot & Dots expects employees to schedule absences in advance and as a result, permits unscheduled absences only in the case of an unforeseen illness or emergency. If you find it necessary to have an unscheduled absence from work you must personally notify your supervisor as far in advance as possible so that proper arrangements can be made to handle your work during your absence. Leaving a message does not qualify as notifying your supervisor -you must personally contact your supervisor. If you are required to leave work early, you must also personally contact your supervisor and obtain his/her permission. Medical documentation may be required to excuse such absences.

Failure to contact your supervisor will classify your absence as unexcused and will be considered grounds for discipline, up to and including termination. If your supervisor is not available to receive your call on any day of your absence, you must personally contact Human Resources.

Employees whose employment is terminated (either voluntarily or involuntarily) will not be compensated for unused PTO days.

Lunch is defined as 1-hour break during the workday taken between the times of 11:00am – 2:30pm. Employees are to be back by 2:30pm. “No lunch” is not a consideration with regard to PTO. PTO can not be used in conjunction with lunch for early dismissal.

PTO hours are allocated for the time period January 1st – December 31st of current year of employment. Pro-rated PTO hours are allocated to employees who’s employment begin dates are post January 1st. Full-time employees of Beyond Spots & Dots are entitled to PTO hours based upon tenure with the company.

Beyond Spots & Dots full-time employees may buy back a total of three (3) PTO days in full-day increments. With approval, 7.5 hours will be added to an employee’s PTO bank of hours for each buyback PTO day.

• All allocated PTO hours must be used prior to the use of buyback PTO allocation.
• Buyback PTO must be received in full-day increments of 7.5 hours.
• Buyback PTO is provided in 7.5 hour increments but can be used in regular PTO increments per PTO guidelines.
• Buy Back PTO is unpaid time off and is taken out of your paychex in one-day increments. See payroll calculations for an understanding of how payroll is calculated.
• Buyback PTO days are unpaid.
• Employee payroll will be deducted 1 day for each buyback PTO day during the payroll period in which the first hours of the buyback PTO day are taken. If Payroll has already been submitted, the deduction will occur in the next payroll period.
• The employee must have prior approval from the manager and Human Resources.
• Unused Buy Back PTO hours are not reimbursed.

Example: Sarah is running out of PTO, but her family has a trip planned. Sarah “buys back” 3 PTO (vacation) days. In her next paychex, She will get paid for 3 less days. 3 Days of PTO (7.5 hours x 3) is added to her PTO balance for her use as she sees fit.

From time to time, Beyond Spots & Dots announce early dismissal (weather, city-sanctioned festivities, events, special occasions, etc.) resulting in the office closing early and employees being allowed to leave work early. If an employee is out of the office on PTO and early dismissal is announced, the original PTO hours requested off remain in place. PTO hours are not credited back to the employee.

Beyond Spots & Dots may announce a delay in the opening of the office due to inclimate weather. If an employee is out of the office on PTO and a delay is announced, the original PTO hours requested off remain in place. PTO hours are not credited back to the employee.