I am no longer in the regular classroom. I'll try to explain it.
All work is due the next day after being assigned.
Students who had missing work missed one recess that day. One additional day was allowed for missing work to be handed in. So that means that if a child was absent on Monday, picked up his assignments on Tuesday, that work was due on Wednesday. After that I treated the absent work like late work. I was very structured and consistent with this policy, and I found that I had very few problems with late work.