Do you work at Walmart and want to know what will happen if you leave your shift early?
In this article, we are going to answer exactly that, as well as if you can leave early if you’re sick and if they can fire you for leaving early.
What Happens if You Leave Walmart Early?
If you leave Walmart within 9 minutes early, you won’t be penalized. However, if you leave between 10 minutes and 2 hours before the shift’s end, you will receive ½ point on your attendance record (unless you use PTO.) If it happens repeatedly, you’ll be coached and could be terminated.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- You can use PTO to leave early at Walmart.
- Walmart assigns ½ points to employees who leave more than 10 minutes before their shift’s scheduled end.
- Walmart can fire you for leaving early if it happens too often.
Now, keep reading if you want to understand everything there is to know about leaving early at Walmart!
Can You Use PTO to Leave Walmart Early?
As you know, if you leave more than 10 minutes early from your shift at Walmart, you will get ½ a point on your attendance record. So you might want to know if there is a way to leave early without getting occurrence points!
And luckily, you can use PTO to leave early at Walmart. However, it is important to understand that PTO needs to be approved by your manager before you use it!
Therefore, you cannot simply log on to your WalmartOne account when you want to leave a shift and request PTO. You must plan to leave early and request it ahead of time.
That being said, you can use Walmart’s PPTO retrospectively. PPTO or protected paid time off, differs from standard paid time off as it doesn’t need to be approved by a manager.
So if you need to leave early but don’t want to get in trouble, you can log on once you get home and use PPTO to automatically cover the time you missed.
Can You Leave Walmart Early if You Are Sick?
Next, many Walmart employees want to know if they can leave early (and not get points on their records) if they are sick.
And while you can leave Walmart early if you are sick, you will still get a ½ point if you leave between 10 minutes and 2 hours before your shift is scheduled to end.
Also, if you have to leave your shift because you’re sick and you didn’t work at least 4 hours, you will receive a full point on your record.
It’s important to understand that Walmart’s policy states that you must use PPTO or PTO to miss work if you are sick. There is no such thing as an excused absence at Walmart without using paid time off.
Leaving Early on Key Event Days
Another aspect of leaving early at Walmart to know about is the policy changes a bit on key event days.
Individual Walmart stores set their own key event dates. And they alert employees of important calendar dates such as Christmas Eve, New Year’s Day, Black Friday, etc.
Usually, although you can apply for PTO on key event days, it is far less likely to get approved simply because your store will need all hands on deck.
As well as being important days for Walmart’s business, key events days are also double points days.
That means if you leave early without using PPTO or pre-approved PTO, you will get 1 point for leaving 10 minutes to 2 hours. And 2 points if you leave before completing more than half your shift.
You should also be aware that if you leave your team understaffed on a key event day, your manager might fire you.
Can Walmart Fire You for Leaving Early?
Finally, you certainly need to know if Walmart can fire you for leaving early from your shift. And unfortunately, the answer is yes; Walmart can and might fire you for leaving early.
However, whether or not you get fired for leaving early depends on your specific situation.
While you will not get any points if you leave within 9 minutes of the end of your shift, you may receive a warning if you continue to do so. At Walmart, warnings lead to coaching, which generally results in termination if the behavior doesn’t change.
Also, you should understand that occurrence points at Walmart accumulate, which can also lead to coaching and, therefore, termination. If you get more than 5 points within a 6-month period, Walmart will likely fire you for attendance.
You cannot get fired at Walmart for using PTO or PPTO to cover the time you miss leaving early. Although you should always be aware that if you leave your team understaffed when you do so, your manager might feel the need to coach you.
Conclusion
If you leave your shift at Walmart more than 10 minutes early, you will get points on your attendance record.
When you leave between 10 minutes and 2 hours before your shift’s scheduled end time, you will get ½ point. And if you leave before completing more than half of your shift, you will receive a full point.
You can use pre-approved PTO or PPTO retrospectively to cover the time you missed from leaving early. If you do so, you won’t get points on your record.
While you can leave early if you are sick, you must use PTO or PPTO to cover it. Otherwise, you will still get points.
Walmart can fire you for leaving early if it is a common occurrence. Or you accumulate more than 5 attendance points in a 6-month period.