Leave

Back-to-school: How to manage leave requests

08/30/2024

The start of each school year brings new responsibilities that pull employees away from work. You may try to be flexible with your parent-workers, but how far you bend depends in large part on whether employees are nonexempt or exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state short-term leave laws.

Prepare to comply: Final PWFA rules now in effect almost everywhere

06/21/2024

Final rules implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect June 18, with partial exceptions limited to employers in Louisiana and Mississippi, employers affiliated with the Catholic Church and state government agencies in Texas. That means almost all employers must now comply with the final PWFA rules.

5 tips for managing summer vacation requests

06/21/2024

It’s officially summer, a popular time for employees to use their paid time off. Ideally, your company’s policy and culture encourage employees to submit their vacation requests early so the dates they’ll be out are already known. Early vacation requests and approvals make planning and accommodating multiple requests easier, while ensuring “the work” still gets done.

17 states sue to block PWFA rule from taking effect

04/29/2024

The lawsuit, filed April 25 by Tennessee’s attorney general in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Arkansas, asserts that the PWFA was enacted to ensure “pregnant women receive workplace accommodations to protect their pregnancies and unborn children.”

6 in 10 employers offer paid parental leave

04/29/2024

Sixty-two percent of employers offer some form of paid parental leave, according to a survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

As requests for leave surge, HR is pressured to respond

04/17/2024

Since the pandemic, employees increasingly expect access to generous leave benefits, and employers are responding. AbsenceSoft’s 2024 Leave of Absence and Workplace Accommodations Forecast revealed these trends.

Get out the vote: Create a voting leave policy

03/15/2024

Were you prepared for the elections that just took place in March? Were your employees clear on when they could take time to vote? Make sure you are prepared come November by implementing a policy or scrutinizing your current one. You can encourage voter turnout by implementing a voting-leave policy that shows employees you take the right to vote seriously.

Who takes the most time off following work injuries?

02/26/2024

Analysts at Upflip, an online training provider, reviewed the latest injury and illness data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see which occupations had the highest percentage of cases where six days or more were taken off from work.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act adds intermittent-leave challenges

02/23/2024

The PWFA lets pregnant employees take a new, albeit informal, form of intermittent leave—and it doesn’t always require a health-care provider’s certification. The PWFA requires pregnancy-related conditions to be reasonably accommodated. Many such conditions mean employees may miss work with little or no notice.

The benefit that gives back: Offer time off for employees who volunteer

02/21/2024

Paid time off so employees can engage in volunteer or charity work may be just the benefit you’ve been looking for. It doesn’t cost much, it burnishes your image in the community and it has been shown to improve employees’ mental health.