Late arrival explanation

Arriving late is a small event that becomes a large one only when nobody writes it down. Three or four lines, filed the same morning, keeps it small.

For a day that was worked, starting later than the assigned shift. A day not worked at all needs the absence letter instead.

Explanation for late arrival

Name and department: 
Date: DD / MM / YYYY
Shift start time: Your own assigned window, not the office opening time
Time you actually started: HH:MM
Minutes late: The difference between those two
Cause: One sentence. Transport, health, family, weather, other
Did you inform anyone before the shift start: Who, and how
How the time was or will be made up: Stayed later, shorter break, leave deducted, not made up

Employee signature ____________  Date ______
Supervisor note: accepted  /  accepted, counts toward the monthly limit  /  not accepted
Supervisor signature ____________  Date ______

How to fill it in

  1. File it the same morning. Written before lunch it is a note. Written next week it looks like a defence.
  2. Give the minutes. Six minutes and sixty minutes need different responses. 'A bit late' gets the wrong one.
  3. Say whether you called ahead. A message sent before the shift start changes how the whole note reads, and it should.
  4. Do not stack causes. One cause, stated plainly. A list of three reads as an excuse even when all three are true.
  5. Know your own grace period. Some teams have one, some do not. Ask, so the note answers the right question.

Late minutes in PeopleMuster are counted from the start of that person's own assigned shift. Somebody on a 12:00 window is not marked late for arriving at 10:05. How late minutes are measured.

Questions people ask about this letter

Does a made-up hour cancel the late mark?

Usually not. The record shows both: you started late and you worked the hours. Those are separate facts and merging them loses one.

How many notes before it becomes a formal matter?

Whatever your policy says, applied the same way to everyone. An unwritten threshold is applied differently by every supervisor who holds it.

Is traffic an acceptable cause?

Once, obviously. Weekly, it is a commute that does not fit the shift, and the honest fix is a shift change request rather than a monthly note.