I have a big problem. I started a new job in August. I was a Call Center Team Leader in my last job, and now I’m a department manager.  My boss travels a lot but I don’t need much supervision.  I’m the Manager of Account Services for a company that organizes group tours.  I supervise eleven part-time and full-time employees.  Starting in about mid-September I’ve been having attendance issues with an employee named Alicia.  Alicia is a good person and a hard worker. Our clients love her, but she has trouble getting to work on time and this company has a strict attendance policy.  I sat down with Alicia the first two times I got a notice from HR telling me that Alicia was more than four minutes late for work. I didn’t notice her coming in late myself because I’m on the phone with customers for much of the day, and I sit in an office.  Alicia was very apologetic. She was in a domestic violence situation in her former living situation and so she moved out. Now she lives with her mom and her sister but she’s much farther from work.  I went to see my HR contact Ben, who is old-school and not very flexible. I asked Ben if we could shift Alicia’s hours temporarily so she could start at 8:30 a.m. instead of eight o’clock.  Ben was horrified by my idea. He said the answer to an attendance problem is not to make an exception to an employee’s work schedule. I politely pushed back and said than shifting Alicia’s hours is a great solution since Alicia is planning to move back down to this area within a month or two.  I didn’t want to get into a verbal shoving match with Ben, but I don’t think it’s his decision whether or not to change Alicia’s hours.  In the meantime, Alicia was late again — four minutes late on the dot, last week. Now Ben says we’ve missed the opportunity for a written warning but that I have to fire Alicia because she was late three times in ninety days.  He told me “The written warning is a service to the employee, because our handbook makes it clear that anyone who is late three times in ninety days can be terminated and should expect to be. The final warning is not essential. We can fire Alicia now.”  I don’t even notice what time my employees come in. Four minutes is nothing to me. They all do a great job. We hit our goals and our customers are happy.  I don’t want to fire Alicia, and I’ve never heard of “missing the opportunity for a written warning.” I left a voice mail message for my boss, who is traveling.  I’m embarrassed that I have to involve my boss in this issue but I’m not going to fire Alicia without him being involved. Have you ever heard of anything like this? What do you recommend?
Kalen is in a tight spot. Kalen's team member Alicia came in late three times and the HR guy Ben says Alicia has to be fired. Kalen doesn't want to fire Alicia. What would you recommend?