REPLY FACTS AND REQUESTS (made-up: Fernhill Architecture, employee Kofi Mensah. The leave policy is made up) Step 1. The email thread. Paste it, oldest message first. Leave out private numbers. ----- Here is an email thread between me, an HR manager, and an employee, oldest message first. Kofi Mensah (Mon, Oct 5): Hi Renée, my wife and I are expecting in mid-December. I'd like to plan my parental leave. Can you tell me how it works at Fernhill? Thanks, Kofi Renée at Fernhill Architecture (Tue, Oct 6): Congratulations, Kofi! I'll pull the policy together for you this week. Please keep this between us and your manager until you're ready to tell the team. - Renée Kofi Mensah (Thu, Oct 15): Thanks. Three questions: Is it 12 weeks at full pay? Could I add a few more weeks unpaid afterwards? And I told Mark my leave would start Dec 14, so that's approved, right? I'd like to tell the clients on my projects next week. Kofi Mensah (9:05 AM): Hi Renée, I know you're busy, but I really need to know where I stand before I talk to my clients. Can you confirm all three today? ----- Step 2. The facts. These are the only things the reply may promise. ----- Facts (only promise what is here): 1. Our paid parental leave is 12 weeks in total: the first 6 weeks at 100% of base pay, then the next 6 weeks at 60%. Kofi has worked here 14 months, so he meets the 12-month rule. 2. Employees can ask for up to 4 more weeks of unpaid leave after that. It needs written approval from their manager and from me, and the request is due at least 30 days before the leave starts. 3. Leave dates are approved by the employee's manager. Mark Sutter is mapping coverage and has said he'll decide by Friday, Oct 23. Kofi's Dec 14 start is not approved yet, and I can't approve it for him. 4. Kofi needs to submit the leave request form in the HR portal by Friday, Nov 13, which is 30 days before Dec 14. 5. Health insurance continues during leave, and his share of the premium stays the same. 6. Whether any of the leave also counts as job-protected under the law is confirmed separately, and I'll email him within 5 business days of his form. I'm not giving legal advice. 7. Keep this private. Kofi decides when and how to tell his clients, and I can suggest he waits for Mark's answer first. 8. Kofi wrote last Thursday and I hadn't answered. That's on me. 9. Sign it: Renée, Fernhill Architecture. ----- Step 3. The instructions: ----- Write my reply to Kofi. Tone: warm, kind and clear, like an HR manager who wants this to be easy for him. Apologize once for the slow reply. Answer all three of his questions clearly: the pay, the unpaid weeks and whether his dates are approved. Say what he needs to do next and by when. Keep it under 200 words. No subject line, since it's a reply in the same thread. Don't invent details or promise anything that isn't in the facts. ----- Step 4. Check every promise: ----- Check that reply against my facts. Make a table of every promise or claim in it and the fact that backs it up. Flag anything the facts don't support. ----- Step 5. After you fix the flagged lines, ask for the final version: ----- Use all three of those wordings. Then give each of his three questions its own short paragraph so the answers are easy to find, keep it warm, and stay under 200 words. Keep every other fact exactly the same. Reply with just the email. ----- BLANK FACTS LIST (copy and fill in for your next reply) 1. Who is eligible and why: 2. What the policy pays, and for how long: 3. What needs approval, and from whom: 4. Who decides the dates, and when: 5. Form and deadline: 6. What I cannot say (legal questions, other employees): 7. Anything I missed or got wrong: 8. Sign it: