Employees who take FMLA intermittent leave can wreak havoc with work schedules. Because their conditions can flare up at any time, their absences are by nature unpredictable. But there are ways you can legally curtail intermittent leave.
Good HR practices rely on complete and accurate documentation. That’s especially true when it comes to FMLA administration, where noncompliance with notice requirements spurs plenty of lawsuits.
Sometimes, all a disabled employee needs in order to return to her job is a little bit of additional leave. But there needs to be some sort of estimated return date.
Under the recently passed Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, starting July 1, 2017, employers must allow employees to accrue up to 48 hours of “sick and safe time” each year.
Make sure HR staff know how to calculate FMLA leave and keep careful tabs on how that leave is used. That way, you minimize chances that an employee will receive erroneous information that could lead to a lawsuit alleging that you interfered with someone’s FMLA rights.
Do you offer voluntary overtime to employees, but make attendance mandatory if employees sign up? If so, watch how you calculate FMLA leave. You have to include the overtime in the calculation of available FMLA hours, or you can’t subtract FMLA hours for an absence.
Employees can’t be held responsible for work not performed while they are out on FMLA medical leave. But that doesn’t mean employers are powerless to discipline an employee for poor performance that’s not related to the medical leave.
In May 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new version of the FMLA poster that employers are required to hang in their workplaces. The big question: If you already have an FMLA poster in your workplace, must you display this new version? Here are the details, plus links to the new poster and employer’s guide …