The MBTA is trying to get a handle on it’s absenteeism problem, a factor in the transit system’s poor performance problems this past winter.

Employees taking unscheduled days off can cause big service delays for the MBTA. The system’s new Fiscal Management and Control Board is trying to tackle the problem as part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s attempt to fix the T.

Baker’s hand-picked fiscal control board heard a plan from T managers to audit which employees in the agency are eligible for time off under the Family Medical Leave Act. Officials also want to design a better time-off management system for T employees as a way to prevent abuse of the benefit.

Interim MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola says a some employees may be using leave time to avoid harsh penalties the T imposes for being late to work.

“We do think that there is a lot of days being used by personnel for reasons other than they are essentially defined for,” DePaola said when asked if a significant number of MBTA employees use FMLA time to take whole days off to avoid punishment for being late to work.

“Leave, whether it be FMLA, sick or other is supposed to be used for the purpose leave is defined. So if you’re sick use a sick day. If you have a family medical need, you use FMLA as your reason why you’re out. Using a day because you’re late is not a recommended practice,” DePaola told reporters after the board’s Monday afternoon meeting.

MBTA Chief administrator Brian Shortsleeve said the goal of the T right now is to work with a third-party that can accurately determine who in the agency should even be allowed to use FMLA hours.

“The real question is ‘are people eligible?’ If you look at the MBTA, 31 percent of our employees have active certification [to use FMLA]. If you compare that to MassDOT, MassDOT’s under 7 percent,”said.

A T report found that operator absence is the top reason for missed bus, commuter rail and subway trips. But the T missed only 1.9 percent of all scheduled trips from January to August this year.

MBTA officials hope to hire an outside firm to carry out the audit and work with them to improve its time-off system.