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

FMLA

‘Emotional caregivers’ win FMLA coverage

05/01/2002
Truck driver Joseph Scamihorn Jr. saw his 73-year-old father fall into a deep depression soon after his daughter, Joseph’s sister, was murdered. After notifying his employer, Scamihorn left his job for …

FMLA recordkeeping hassles costing businesses big bucks

05/01/2002
Complying with the information-collection requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) costs large- and medium-size employers an average of $825,000 annually, says a recent survey by the Employment …

Employee’s resignation stops your FMLA obligation

05/01/2002

Q. One of our managers resigned a month ago, but she applied for FMLA leave a day before her resignation. Are we under any obligation to return her to a position she resigned from? Are we obligated to offer her a job when FMLA expires? —T.K., Massachusetts

FMLA Won’t Cover Tardiness

05/01/2002

Q. Some of our employees routinely ask to use FMLA when they are five, 10 or 15 minutes late. It creates a scheduling nightmare and hurts morale. Does FMLA cover employees who are consistently tardy for work? —M.P., Florida

Vacation Accrual Isn’t Required During FMLA Leave

05/01/2002

Q. I’m under the impression that our company is obligated to give employees all vacation accrued up to the time of their FMLA leave, but we’re not obligated to let employees accrue vacation leave during their FMLA leave. Am I right? —B.K., Wisconsin

Notification error doesn’t extend FMLA rights

04/01/2002
Your company no longer has to worry about giving extra leave to an employee if you fail to designate the employee’s leave as counting toward her Family and Medical Leave Act …

Pregnancy bias: New census trends heighten your risk

04/01/2002
If you’ve only semiunderstood the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) until now, it’s time to brush up. Reason: The 24-year-old law is spawning its greatest number of claims yet. (See chart below.) …

Don’t deny leave requests based on gender stereotypes

03/01/2002
After his wife gave birth, Kevin Knussman, a Maryland state trooper, applied for family leave. Because his wife had medical problems after the birth, Knussman asked for an extra 30 …

Ex-employees: Gone but not forgotten Courts’ broader definition of ’employee’ expands your liability

02/01/2002
Who are your employees? Seems like a pretty simple question. But, as in several aspects of employment law, the answer may surprise you. Two recent court rulings illustrate how, in …

Employees must ‘fess up about their need for leave

02/01/2002
Linda Collins’ attendance record at work was spotty at best. Her employer warned her more than a dozen times, including four formal warnings. But when she again called in sick two …