Refusal Ladder
HR Policies
The big idea in 30 seconds: A workmanship failure is a mistake. Refusing to fix your own work is a choice — and the system treats it that way. Refusal is charged higher than the quality failure underneath it, the pending payout for that site is forfeited, and the site gets posted for any other crew to claim and earn at the full rate. Repeat refusals inside a 90-day rolling window climb a fixed ladder that ends in separation. There is exactly one valve for genuine emergencies, and it requires notifying us before the deadline, not after.
Quick Reference
- Refusal: 15 debits + site forfeited
- Open-redo claim window: 24 hours
- Owner-completed redo: 20 debits
- Emergency deferrals: 1 per 90 days, pre-notified
What Counts as a Refusal
A refusal is any of:
- Saying you won't do the redo. - Missing the redo deadline with no claimed exception and no pre-notified emergency deferral. - Showing up and not completing the redo to standard a second time without a documented blocker.
A paused clock (weather/access, claimed before the deadline with evidence) is not a refusal. A pre-notified emergency deferral (below) is not a refusal.
The Ladder
Every step is automatic and written down. Nobody negotiates it site-by-site.
Step 1 — Ledger event. The refusal is recorded on your Discipline Ledger at 15 debits — Class A, higher than the workmanship failure that caused the redo. Refusal is a choice, not a mistake.
Step 2 — Forfeiture and repost. The pending payout for the failed site is forfeited — never released to you — and the site is posted as an open redo any other crew can claim within 24 hours and earn at the original site rate. The money follows verified completed work. Nobody's released wages are touched; you simply never earned that site.
Step 3 — Owner completion. If no crew claims it in 24 hours, or the site is priority-flagged, the owner completes it. An owner-completed redo is logged as the maximum-severity version of the event: 20 debits.
Step 4 — Repeat escalation. Refusals inside a 90-day rolling window stack:
Repeat Refusals (90-day rolling window)
| Refusal # | Consequence |
|---|---|
| 1st | 15 debits, site forfeited & reposted |
| 2nd | Tier demotion and vesting reset — your share multiplier drops and the clock to earn it back restarts |
| 3rd | 14-day suspension from route claiming |
| 4th | Separation |
The Emergency Valve
Life happens. This policy punishes refusal, not genuine emergencies.
You get 1 pre-notified emergency deferral per 90-day rolling window. To use it, before the redo deadline you must either:
- arrange another crew member to cover the redo on time, or - commit in writing to a next-day completion and hit it.
A used valve is logged but carries zero debits and does not count as a refusal. Trying to claim the valve after the deadline has passed is not a deferral — it's a refusal, and claiming it dishonestly adds a concealment aggravator under the [Sentencing Guidelines](/sentencing-guidelines).