Excessive absence is the charge in the write-up, and the employee's first question is which absences the employer counted. This page answers that question from the employee's record rather than from the policy's text: it takes one employee with nine absences in a rolling year, sorts them into the ones that score under the policy and the ones the policy or the law excuses, and shows how far the counted ones are from the line. The policy is the one used across this site: an unexcused absence scores 1 point, a tardy 0.5, a no-call 2, the threshold is 8 and the window 12 months. The attendance points calculator on this site sorts and sums any record the same way, with no account.
Nine absences, sorted: which ones score
The record shows nine days not worked in the window. Two were reported the week before for medical appointments and were excused under the policy: zero points, reason kept. One was a three-day absence for a serious health condition that the employee reported on the day and later supported with certification, and it is FMLA leave: zero points, and 29 CFR 825.220 forbids counting it under a no-fault policy at all. One was a day of reserve duty: zero under USERRA. That leaves five days: four unexcused absences at 1 point each and one no-call no-show at 2, which is 6 points. The counted absences, not the nine, are what the write-up may cite, and sorting them first is what keeps the write-up honest.
How far six is from the line, and what crosses it
At 6 of 8 the employee is at three quarters of the threshold, which on the worked policy is the final warning step. Two more unexcused absences cross the line; one more no-call does. A tardy at 0.5 does not, and four tardies do. The arithmetic is worth stating to the employee in exactly those terms, because a person who knows that one no-call ends employment and one reported absence does not will call. The window also matters: the oldest of the four absences was eleven months ago, and next month it ages out and the total falls to 5, which the record should show and the lead should say, since a threshold that only ever rises is not the policy that was written.
The absences that are never excessive, and the notice they still owe
An absence that is FMLA leave, a reasonable accommodation under the ADA or the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, or service under USERRA never counts toward the line however many there are. That protection does not remove the employee's duty to give notice: 29 CFR 825.302 requires notice of foreseeable leave in advance, and 825.303 requires notice of unforeseeable leave as soon as practicable, generally following the employer's usual call-in procedure unless circumstances prevent it. So an employee who could have called and did not may still have a no-call under the policy for the notice failure, even where the absence itself is protected leave, and the employer should decide that question under the regulation before scoring anything. The Department of Labor's FMLA questions and answers, linked below, cover the common cases.
What the employer says, and what the record has to show
The conversation at 6 points names the five counted absences by date, the weight each scored, the four that were excused and why, the total, the threshold, the event that would cross it and the date the total next falls. It does not say attendance has been excessive; it says 6 of 8 and lists the dates. The record has to show the same thing to anyone reading it later: every absence in the window, scored or excused, with the reason on the excused ones. That is what makes excessive absence a fact about the record rather than an opinion about the person, and what the attendance points calculator on this site produces from the events and the five numbers. The employee attendance policy guide on this site sets out the policy those numbers live in.
Questions people ask about excessive absence
How many absences are excessive?
Whatever the policy's threshold implies. On this site's worked policy an unexcused absence scores 1 against a threshold of 8 in a rolling year, so eight unexcused absences with nothing else, or fewer mixed with no-calls at 2 each. The number is in the policy or it is nobody's.
Do FMLA absences count toward excessive absence?
No. 29 CFR 825.220 forbids counting FMLA leave under a no-fault attendance policy. The employee still owes notice under 825.302 and 825.303, and a failure to give notice that could have been given is a separate question the employer decides under those rules.
What should the employee be told at the conversation?
The counted absences by date and weight, the excused ones and why, the total against the threshold, the single event that would cross it, and the date the oldest event ages out. Numbers and dates, not adjectives.