At XYZ Inc., an employee receives a verbal warning upon accumulating

Question

At XYZ Inc., an employee receives a verbal warning upon accumulating at least 3 unexcused absences within any 365-day period and a written reprimand upon accumulating at least 4 such absences. For any single 8-hour workday, missing between 10 minutes and 2 hours of work counts as one-third of an absence, missing between 2 hours and 4 hours of work counts as half an absence, and missing more than 4 hours counts as a full absence. However, an employee may stay late to make up for up to 1 hour of an unexcused absence on the same day.

The table contains descriptions of the unexcused absences of 5 employees of XYZ Inc. Assume that in each case the employee had no other unexcused absences and made up no other time. In the table, select a description of an employee who qualified for a verbal warning but not a written reprimand, and select a description of an employee who qualified for a written reprimand. Make only two selections, one in each column .

ID: 100404

ChiranjeevSingh · Accepted Answer

Understanding the Passage   
 At XYZ Inc., an employee receives a verbal warning upon accumulating at least 3 unexcused absences within any 365-day period and a written reprimand upon accumulating at least 4 such absences. 
 
 This statement is about a company XYZ Inc. 
 An employee receives a verbal warning on making at least 3 unexcused absences within any 365-day period.
 
 Let me test how clear you are with this statement. Assume that all the below questions are about XYZ Inc. 
  Ques 1 : If an employee has made 3 unexcused absences within a 365-day period, will he receive a verbal warning? 
 The answer is Yes. 
  Ques 2 : If an employee has received a verbal warning, has he made 3 unexcused absences within a 365-day period? 
 The answer is ‘We don’t know’. He could have made more than 3 unexcused absences. Or he could have received a verbal warning for some other reason. The statement doesn’t say that verbal warnings are issued only for unexcused absences. 
  Ques 3 : Is it possible that an employee makes 3 or more unexcused absences within a 365-day period and doesn’t receive a verbal warning? 
 No. The statement doesn’t allow for such cases. If the statement had been “an employee generally receives…” or “an employee almost always receives,” then the answer would have been Yes. 
  Ques 4 : If an employee has made 10 absences within a 365-day period, will he receive a verbal warning? 
 We don’t know. The given statement is about unexcused absences, and this question is about absences. If all 10 absences has been excused, the employee wouldn’t receive any verbal warning. 
  Ques 5 : If an employee makes 2 unexcused absences in the second half of a calendar year and 2 unexcused absences in the first half of the next calendar year, will he receive a verbal warning? 
 Yes. The given statement is not specific to a calendar year; the statement is about a 365-day period. Since both the second half of a year and the first half of the next year fall within a 365-day period, this employee has made 4 unexcused absences within a 365-day period. Thus, he will receive a verbal warning.   
 An employee receives a written reprimand on making at least 4 unexcused absences within any 365-day period.
 
  Ques 1 : Let’s say an employee, Amar, has made 4 unexcused absences within a 365-day period. Is he qualified for a verbal warning? Is he qualified for a written reprimand? 
 Yes and Yes. 
 Given the criteria for verbal warnings and written reprimands, we can understand that whoever receives a written reprimand also receives a verbal warning. Of course, the verbal warning may precede the written reprimand since the criteria for a verbal warning will be satisfied before the criteria for a written reprimand.

For any single 8-hour workday, missing between 10 minutes and 2 hours of work counts as one-third of an absence, missing between 2 hours and 4 hours of work counts as half an absence, and missing more than 4 hours counts as a full absence. 
 
 This statement provides information regarding what constitutes an absence and how much. 
 If 10 minutes ≤ missing work ≤ 2 hours, 1/3 of an absence 
 If 2 hours ≤ missing work ≤ 4 hours, 1/2 of an absence 
 If missing work ≥ 4 hours, 1 absence 
 The statement doesn’t clarify how much absence would be counted if a person has missed exactly 2 hours or exactly 4 hours on a workday.

However, an employee may stay late to make up for up to 1 hour of an unexcused absence on the same day. 
 
 This statement provides a way to make up for unexcused absence - the employee may stay late 
 However, the maximum limit is 1 hour here. So, an employee cannot make up for 2 hours of unexcused absence by staying late. However, he or she may reduce 2 hours of unexcused absence to 1 hour of unexcused absence by staying late for 1 hour. 
 The statement also adds “on the same day.” So, an employee cannot stay late on Tuesday to make up for the unexcused absence on Monday.

Understanding the Question Stem

The table contains descriptions of the unexcused absences of 5 employees of XYZ Inc. Assume that in each case the employee had no other unexcused absences and made up no other time. 
 
 Given the assumption stated here, we can take the information presented in the options to be complete w.r.t.   unexcused absences   and making up for unexcused absences by staying late.

In the table, select a description of an employee who qualified for a verbal warning but not a written reprimand, 
 
 We’re looking for an employee who has made at least 3 but less than 4 unexcused absences within a 365-day period. Thus, for such an employee, 3 ≤ unexcused absences < 4. 
 The number of unexcused absences has to be less than 4 since the statement says “not a written reprimand.”

and select a description of an employee who qualified for a written reprimand. Make only two selections, one in each column. 
 
 We’re looking for an employee who has made at least 4 unexcused absences within a 365-day period.

Evaluating the Options   
 A. Absent all day on 5 April 2010, 8 June 2010, 17 April 2011, and 14 June 2011 
 
 A common mistake that I can expect w.r.t. this option
 
 A student thinks that this employee is qualified for a written reprimand because the student counts all 4 absences. The student has forgotten that the 4 absences must be within a 365-day period.   
 This employee has made only two unexcused absences within any 365-day period.
 
 5 April 2010 and 8 June 2010 
 8 June 2010 and 17 April 2011 
 17 April 2011 and 14 June 
 Another common mistake that I can foresee is that students may check the 365-day period beginning on the first date mentioned in the option, i.e., the 365-day period beginning on 5 April 2010. However, we need to be open to any 365-day period.

B. Absent 4.5 hours but stayed 1 hour late on May 13 May 2010; absent all day on 2 June 2010, 1 May 2011, and 21 July 2011 
 
 Absent 4.5 hours but stayed 1 hour late on May 13 May 2010 → Overall 3.5 hours absent → 0.5 absence 
 May 13 May 2010, 2 June 2010, and 1 May 2011 FALL within 365-day period - they constitute 2.5 absences 
 21 July 2011 does not fall within the 365-day period starting either 13 May 2010 or 2 June 2010. 
 Thus, within any 365-day period, this employee has a maximum of 2.5 absences. 
 Thus, not qualified for a verbal warning.

C. Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8 and 9 February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011 
 
 Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010 → 1 absence on 19 March 2010 
 Stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010 → No impact. Staying late reduces unexcused absence only if staying late is done on the same day as unexcused absence 
 absent all day on 8 and 9 February 2011 → 2 absences.  Overall 3 absences so far within 365-day period  
 arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011 → This is outside the 365-day period starting 19 March 2010. So, this doesn’t contribute to absences. 
  This employee qualifies for a verbal warning but not a written reprimand.

D. Absent 3.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 15 September 2010; absent 6 hours on 16 September 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 18 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 19 September 2010 
 
 Absent 3.5 hours on 13 September 2010 → 0.5 absence 
 absent 1 hour on 15 September 2010 → 1/3 absence 
 absent 6 hours on 16 September 2010 → 1 absence 
 absent 2.5 hours on 18 September 2010 → 0.5 absence 
 absent 1 hour on 19 September 2010 → 1/3 absence 
 Sum: Less than 3 absences. Thus, no verbal warning.

E. Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011 
 
 This has to be the employee that receives a written reprimand (unless I have made a mistake above) 
 Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010 → 0.5 absence 
 absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010 → 0.5 absence 
 absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011 → 2 absences 
 absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011 → 1 absence 
 All four absences above fall within the 365-day period starting 7 July, 2010. 
  Thus, this employee qualifies for a written reprimand.

Overall, what makes this question difficult is the patience required to do all the calculations while not missing or misunderstanding any given constraints.

Apt0810 · Answer

Verbal warning: Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8, 9, and 10 of February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011

So here the employee would have only 3.5 absence here since March 2010 - March 2011 will be the one year period considered,so verbal warning would be there

Written reprimand: Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010(.5 absence); absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010(.5 absence); absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011(2 absenced); absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011(1 absence)

4 unexcused absences are there so written reprimand

Posted from my mobile device

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Each employee description must be checked to see if it meets the criteria for a verbal warning, but not for a written reprimand: accumulating at least 3, but fewer than 4, unexcused absences within a 365-day period. The employee described in the first option had 4 unexcused absences, but no more than 2 of these occurred within a single 365-day period, so the employee did not qualify for a verbal warning. Likewise, the employee in the second option did not qualify for a verbal warning: the employee reduced the absence on 13 May 2010 from a full day to half a day by staying late and working an extra hour, and thus had only  2\frac{1}{2}  absences during the 365-day period beginning 13 May, and no more than 2 absences within any other 365-day period. In the third option, the 4.5-hour absence on 19 March 2010 counts as a full day’s absence and is not offset by the extra hour because it was not worked on the same day. Therefore, the employee in the third option had exactly 3 unexcused absences in the 365-day period beginning on 19 March 2010—enough for a verbal warning, though not a written reprimand.

In the fourth option, the employee was absent between 10 minutes and 2 hours on 15 and 19 September, between 2 hours and 4 hours on 13 and 18 September, and more than 4 hours on 16 September. Thus, in that single 365-day period, the employee accumulated (2)(1/3)+(2)(1/2)+1, or  2\frac{2}{3} , total absences, which falls just short of 3 absences and thus does not qualify for a verbal warning.

In the fifth option, during the 365-day period beginning on 7 July 2010, the employee had a 3-hour (half-day) absence, a 2.5-hour (half-day) absence, two all-day (full-day) absences, and a 5-hour (full-day) absence, for a total of (2)(1/2)+(2)(1)+1, or 4 absences. This employee meets the criteria for a verbal warning, but also for a written reprimand, and hence the fifth option is not a key.

The correct answer is Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed one hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8 February 2011 and 9 February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011.

As noted in the analysis above, the employee in the fifth option meets the criteria for both a verbal warning and a written reprimand, and hence the fifth option is the key. Also by the previous analysis, the employees in the first, second, and fourth options do not meet the criteria for verbal warning and hence cannot meet the criteria for written reprimand. While a verbal warning is warranted in the third option, the employee has fewer than 4 absences in a 365-day period and thus does not merit a written reprimand.

The correct answer is Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011.

BLTN · Answer

Dear  Sajjad1994 
pursuant to the statement 3rd
 Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8, 9, and 10 of February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011

we can compute 4.5 = 1 day, 1 hour late = 1/6h, 1 day 8, 9 and 10 = 3 days
Total 4 days or 4 absences. That is wrong because we already have 4 absences in the statement:

Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011

Please, remove 1 day from 3rd statement.

MihirBathia · Answer

Can this question be an ideal candidate to be left for the last? In a minute or 90 seconds, probably, one can figure out all the options require careful calculations. Or would it be a bad strategy?

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Yes. I think so since this question will require a lot of time for almost anyone. Of course, if you have already understood everything in the question and just need to evaluate the options, parking the question for the end may not make sense.

linhaha1010 · Answer

Is it really possible to solve this problem within 90 seconds?
How do you guys do that...

chetan2u · Answer

Yes, 90 seconds is a tough call. But if you understand the paragraph fast, the options are pretty easy to be eliminated.
The absence required is 3 days for verbal and 4 days for written.
(1) Absent all day on 5 Aprili 2010, 8 June 2010, 17 April 2011, and 14 June 2011.....
 there are only two days within 365 days period at any time.

(2) Absent 4.5 hours but stayed 1 hour late on May 13 May 2010; absent all day on 2 June 2010, 1 May 2011, and 21 July 2011
All day absence give us only 2 days within 365 days period. The absence of 4.5days comes down to 3.5 hours and so does not translate to complete day absence. 
 Thus, the absence is between 2 and 3 days

(3) Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8 and 9 of February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011
This does give us more than 3 days, as he is absent on two consecutive days and the absence on 19 & 20 mar 2010 too falls within the 365 days period.
19 Mar 2010: 4.5 hrs, so another day. 
Hence 3 days .... Verbal warning

(4) Absent 3.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 15 September 2010; absent 6 hours on 16 September 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 18 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 19 September 2010
Absent on 5 days, but two days account for 1/3 day absence each, another two for 1/2 day absence, and one day for complete day absence. So, less than 3 days

(5) Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011
 We could save time by clicking it as written complaint as this is the last option. 
All days mentioned are within 365 days period. Greater than 4 hrs on 3 days, so 3 days absence. Between 2 and 4 hours on two days, so 1/2 day for two days amounting to a complete day. Total 4 days.. Written warning

bumpbot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club BumpBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

At XYZ Inc., an employee receives a verbal warning upon accumulating

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

Verbal warning	Written reprimand	Statements
		Absent all day on 5 April 2010, 8 June 2010, 17 April 2011, and 14 June 2011
		Absent 4.5 hours but stayed 1 hour late on May 13 May 2010; absent all day on 2 June 2010, 1 May 2011, and 21 July 2011
		Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8 and 9 February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011
		Absent 3.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 15 September 2010; absent 6 hours on 16 September 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 18 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 19 September 2010
		Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011

Verbal warning..........	Written reprimand............	Statements
		Absent all day on 5 Aprili 2010, 8 June 2010, 17 April 2011, and 14 June 2011
		Absent 4.5 hours but stayed 1 hour late on May 13 May 2010; absent all day on 2 June 2010, 1 May 2011, and 21 July 2011
		Absent 4.5 hours on 19 March 2010; stayed 1 hour late on 20 March 2010; absent all day on 8, 9, and 10 of February 2011; arrived 40 minutes late on 17 April 2011
		Absent 3.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 15 September 2010; absent 6 hours on 16 September 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 18 September 2010; absent 1 hour on 19 September 2010
		Absent 3 hours on 7 July 2010; absent 2.5 hours on 13 September 2010; absent all day on 31 January 2011 and 4 July 2011; absent 5 hours on 12 March 2011

GMAT Two-part Analysis (TPA) Questions

At XYZ Inc., an employee receives a verbal warning upon accumulating

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards