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Is a doctor’s note enough to prevent us from firing employee who broke call-in rule?

02/24/2009

Q. An employee left work on a Monday due to an illness. She called in sick Tuesday and Wednesday, but we heard nothing on Thursday or Friday. Our policy calls for termination if the employee doesn’t contact us within three days. We posted her job on Friday and decided to terminate her. On Monday, her fiancé called to tell us she was pregnant and had complications that led to a hospital visit. We got a note from her obstetrician saying she’d been examined, but not indicating when she could return. What should we do to avoid any legal fallout?

Keep solid time records to prove whether employee is eligible for FMLA leave

02/19/2009

One criterion for employees to be eligible for FMLA leave is that they must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the FMLA leave. That’s why it’s important to track employees’ hours, even hours worked by exempt employees, too.

Must you offer FMLA for ‘possibility’ of serious illness?

02/19/2009

Don’t be so quick to pull out the “request denied” stamp when employees want to use FMLA leave to determine whether they have a qualifying “serious condition.” As a new court ruling shows, if an employee simply thinks she has a serious condition, she may take FMLA leave to have it checked out.

FMLA: ‘Serious Health Condition’ Defined

02/18/2009

HR Law 101: The FMLA defines a “serious health condition” as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves one of the following: hospital care, absence plus treatment, pregnancy, chronic conditions requiring treatments, permanent/long-term conditions requiring supervision, or multiple treatments (non-chronic conditions).

Stop ex-workers from ‘stealing’ vacation leave

02/17/2009

Employers are free to set the terms by which employees earn vacation leave. But what happens to that leave when employees resign or are fired? Here’s how to make sure you don’t leave that answer open to interpretation—by your employees or a court.

Employee wants FMLA leave: Can we contact her health care provider?

02/12/2009

Q. When one of our employees requested FMLA leave, we asked for medical certification of a substantial health condition from her health care provider. We received the form, but cannot read some of the physician’s handwriting and do not understand some of the responses. We also need additional information not requested in the medical certification form. Can we seek clarification from the health care provider?

OK to have stricter standards for probationary employees

02/12/2009

You can learn a lot about an employee during the first few weeks. Missing work then probably means attendance will be a problem later. Having stricter rules during the initial probationary period will help you weed out problem employees.

What should we do? Returning employee wants full-time work, we want part time

02/12/2009

Q. When an employee requested a reduced schedule as an accommodation of his medical condition, we agreed. He has now told us that he is able to work full time. However, because of business conditions, we’d prefer to keep him at a reduced schedule. Do we have to reinstate him to his full-time job?

FMLA protects workers before they’re eligible

02/12/2009

An Illinois court has ruled that employees who request FMLA leave before they’ve met the eligibility thresholds are protected from retaliation. An employer can’t, for example, fire such an employee because he says he will soon be taking FMLA leave and perhaps undergo expensive medical treatment.

Give benefit of doubt to panicked workers who take sudden FMLA leave

02/12/2009

The FMLA grants eligible employees the right to take time off to deal with their own or a covered relative’s serious health condition. What has been unclear until now is what happens when an employee rushes to the emergency room believing a true medical emergency exists, only to find out that the condition was less serious than originally believed.