• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Leave

Furniture firm makes interest-Free vacation loans to employees

03/01/2008

Employees at Phoenix-based Goodmans Interior Structures get a little help when it comes to planning—and paying for—their vacations. The office furniture supplier makes interest-free vacation loans to employees through Club MEG, named for CEO Murray E. Goodman …

Returning from FMLA leave may require ADA accommodation

03/01/2008

Balancing time off with reasonable accommodations can be tough if one of your employees is covered by both the FMLA and the ADA. You must be especially careful if a disability means an employee needs to take her 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave, but can’t quite return to work without an accommodation …

Temporary illnesses and injuries aren’t disabilities

03/01/2008

Fortunately for employers, not every temporary physical restriction is a disability under the ADA. Before you entertain accommodations, look at the claimed disability and decide whether the problem will resolve itself within a reasonable time frame or if it permanently impairs a major life function …

You don’t need a second opinion to reject FMLA certification

03/01/2008

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Michigan, recently handed employers some ammunition to fight FMLA claims. In its decision in Novak v. MetroHealth Medical Center, the court reaffirmed that an employer is not obligated to get a second opinion when it rejects an employee’s certification paperwork …

FMLA expansion to military families approved

03/01/2008

For the first time since it became law in 1993, the FMLA has been amended. President Bush signed H.R. 4986 in January, granting FMLA-protected leave to family members of injured military personnel and to families of military reservists called to active duty …

Time off for binge drinking doesn’t qualify for FMLA leave

03/01/2008
Employees who are alcoholics may be disabled under the ADA and are entitled to reasonable accommodations for treatment. That treatment also qualifies the employee for FMLA leave. But it doesn’t mean you have to tolerate or forgive unauthorized absences to indulge an alcoholic binge …

You can’t eliminate job because others filled in during FMLA leave

03/01/2008
The work doesn’t stop just because an employee takes FMLA leave. As a practical matter, the employer must redistribute the absent employee’s work among the remaining staff. If that goes well, you may be tempted to cut the position entirely. Before you eliminate that position, consider the following case …

Employee must prove work caused psychiatric injuries

03/01/2008
California employees who claim their jobs have caused them psychiatric problems have to meet a higher standard than they would for physical injuries. They must prove that “actual events of employment” were the “predominant” cause. Now a California appeals court has clarified that workers’ comp does not cover psychological or psychiatric injuries that an employee herself caused …

Can we refuse to reinstate an employee who has been out on CFRA leave?

03/01/2008
Q. Under what circumstances can we deny reinstatement to an employee who has been out on leave under the California Family Rights Act?

Making exceptions to the rule can turn the exception into the rule

03/01/2008
Organizations create rules for a reason—mainly to ensure order and fairness. So when a manager or supervisor bends the rules just for some people, he or she may be setting up the organization for a lawsuit. Essentially, the exceptions become the rule, and employees who don’t benefit may sue, alleging discrimination based on a protected characteristic …