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FMLA

Employee passed fitness exam? Put him to work

01/25/2010

Requiring an employee to undergo a fitness-for-duty examination to show he can perform his job doesn’t mean you’re regarding him as disabled or essentially conceding he is disabled. How you handle the exam results is what matters—not that you ordered an exam in the first place. If the exam shows the employee can perform the job, make sure you immediately reinstate him.

Start accommodations process when FMLA expires

01/25/2010

Change your policy now if you automatically terminate employees who use up their FMLA leave and can’t yet to return to work without restrictions. That’s because the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination requires employers to start an interactive accommodations process when they learn an employee may be disabled.

If worker is out on FMLA leave, can we modify her job?

01/15/2010

Q. Before an employee left for FMLA leave, she performed two functions: administrative assistant and some HR duties. We filled the administrative position while she was on leave. Can we assign her to work only in the HR position when she comes back?

You can’t choose the day for FMLA medical treatments

01/13/2010

Employees who suffer from chronic conditions may have to see their doctors regularly. Under the FMLA, if those employees give you 30 days’ notice, they’re allowed to pick the day for their appointment. You can’t simply argue that they don’t need to take off that particular day because there is no emergency or urgency.

Does the FMLA apply after a loved one has died?

01/13/2010

Q. I have an employee who has been taking FMLA leave to care for her ill mother. The employee’s mother recently died, and the employee has requested an additional few weeks to attend to some issues with her mother’s estate. Can I continue to treat this time as FMLA leave?

Think worker can’t take FMLA? Run the numbers

01/11/2010

Before you decide to fire a troublesome employee for missing work because the absences aren’t covered by the FMLA, double-check your math. In one recent case, the employer fired a “poor-performing” employee but cited a dubious reason: She was frequently absent to care for her father and wasn’t yet eligible for FMLA leave. In fact, it turned out she was eligible and the court wouldn’t buy any of the other discharge reasons.

Under new FMLA rules, think twice before automatically firing workers who don’t call in

01/11/2010

The new FMLA regulations say employers can enforce their usual call-in rules, such as requiring employees to call in before missing a shift. That rule change made employers rejoice, assuming they could safely discharge employees who didn’t show up and didn’t call in. But a new case calls that assumption into question.

What can we do? Employee may have been faking need for FMLA leave

01/11/2010

Q. An employee went out of FMLA leave three weeks ago to undergo and recover from knee surgery. Last night, a reliable and trusted employee spotted him at the local YMCA playing a game of pick-up basketball. We now have serious doubts about the validity of his FMLA leave. Is there anything we can do?

OK to redistribute work as FMLA leave nears

01/11/2010

When an employee plans on taking FMLA leave, employers have to plan for the impending absence. That can include reassigning the employee to a less “mission-critical” job or temporarily removing responsibilities. Don’t worry that doing so will trigger a successful FMLA lawsuit.

Suspect doc is a ‘certification specialist’? Ask for second and even third opinions

01/11/2010

It happens more often than you might think. An HR office begins receiving an unusual number of FMLA certifications from the same doctor. The sudden deluge happens during peak production times when employees are required to work mandatory overtime. It all points to what amounts to a scam: