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FMLA

Before firing for too much sick leave, ensure it wasn’t FMLA-covered serious condition

07/21/2017
The FMLA doesn’t cover minor illnesses, and employers are free to punish employees who miss work because of them. However, employers do have an obligation to investigate further if the employee reports she received medical treatment and followed call-off rules.

Discipline or termination after FMLA leave? Prepare to prove it wasn’t retaliation

07/19/2017
Typically, courts look at whether an employee has used FMLA leave in the past when considering whether his employer interfered with his FMLA rights more recently.

Tell managers: Never comment on FMLA leave

07/17/2017
Employees who qualify for FMLA leave can’t be punished for taking it. Any action that could be seen as dissuading workers from exercising their right to take FMLA leave amounts to interfering with a federal right.

Top 10 FMLA and ADA issues employers must know how to handle

07/12/2017
When HR professionals are surveyed, they routinely rate the FMLA and the ADA as the two most difficult laws to deal with. Here’s a look at 10 of the most challenging FMLA and ADA issues HR struggles to handle.

No guarantee of same job after FMLA leave

06/08/2017
You may have to promote someone from within to do the work of the employee who has taken FMLA leave. But what about the employee who took FMLA leave? Isn’t he entitled to return to his old job? Not necessarily, as long as you can place him in an “equivalent” job with the same benefits and pay.

Teach managers: No complaining about FMLA

06/07/2017
Make sure all supervisors understand that they must never criticize employees for taking FMLA leave. For employees who need to care for their own serious health condition or that of a close relative, FMLA leave is a right, not a privilege.

Is that an FMLA need, or just chaos at home?

06/06/2017
Employees who want to take FMLA leave must let their employers know. They don’t have to specifically ask for FMLA leave, but they do have to provide enough information for the employer to understand that the worker or a family member suffers from a serious health condition. Merely describing a chaotic life full of difficult events isn’t enough.

Ensure employee receives notice that FMLA leave is about to expire

05/16/2017
What happens if the employer fails to notify the employee? She may win an FMLA interference lawsuit if she can prove that, had she known, she would have returned to work and could have performed her job.

OK to make some job changes during FMLA

05/16/2017
Ordinarily, an employee taking FMLA leave is entitled to return to the same job or one that’s substantially equivalent. But what if the employee’s job changed while the employee was out on FMLA leave?

ADA retaliation claim doesn’t require actual disability

05/10/2017
Punishing an employee who requests a reasonable accommodation is retaliation even if it turns out that employee isn’t disabled and, therefore, wasn’t eligible for an accommodation at all.