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FMLA

Firing shortly after follow-up FMLA care may be retaliation

04/01/2008
As more time passes after an employee takes FMLA leave, courts grow less and less likely to link an adverse employment action to taking leave. That means employees have a harder and harder time proving that being fired, for example, was retaliation for exercising their FMLA leave rights. But be careful …

Labor Dept. proposes extensive revisions to FMLA regulations

04/01/2008
The U.S Labor Department has announced proposed revisions to the FMLA regulations.  And the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 amended the FMLA to provide leave for eligible employees to care for injured service members and to deal with any “qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that a covered family member is on active duty or has been notified of an impending call to active duty …

Can we ask employee to use paid leave before receiving workers’ comp benefits

04/01/2008
Q. Can an employee who is receiving workers’ compensation wage continuation benefits be required to use sick, vacation and personal leave time to cover days missed due to the work-related injury? …

FMLA leave even if paperwork is lacking?

04/01/2008
Q. Can an employee be required to use FMLA leave if the required paperwork has not been completed by the employee or signed by the employee’s physician? …

You must follow no-Fault absenteeism policy to the letter

04/01/2008
Companies often rely on a no-fault absenteeism policy as an objective way to determine who should be terminated for unreliability. As long as the policy doesn’t count time off for an FMLA-protected reason, such policies work well—if you follow your own rules …

FMLA changes are here — and even more are on the way

04/01/2008

Employers with 50 or more employees that are subject to the requirements of the FMLA, take note: Significant developments are under way: A new law extends leave benefits to military families, and the U.S. Labor Department is revamping regulations interpreting employers’ obligations under the FMLA …

Termination after maternity leave may violate the FMLA

04/01/2008
Not every employee wants to take FMLA leave, and employers sometimes don’t designate paid time off as FMLA time. But an employee doesn’t have to request FMLA leave in order to be protected by the law. That means you can’t refuse to reinstate an employee when she returns from leave. Doing so would amount to interference with the right to FMLA leave …

Rush to fire or demote pregnant employee often backfires

04/01/2008
When it comes to discrimination claims, timing can be everything. An employer that discharges or demotes a pregnant employee (or one who has just given birth) is asking for a discrimination or retaliation lawsuit. If you have a poorly performing employee who is pregnant or just gave birth, don’t do anything adverse until she has returned to work for some time …

How to assign FMLA leave to a reluctant employee

04/01/2008
Q. What happens if an employee takes sick or vacation leave and we want to run out his FMLA leave? We think he has a qualifying condition, but he won’t get medical certification because he doesn’t want the time used for FMLA. — R.W.D., Georgia …

Recapturing health insurance premiums following FMLA leave

04/01/2008
Answers to 3 questions about recovering health insurance premiums.