FMLA

Not ready for work after FMLA expires? Consider more leave as ADA accommodation

03/09/2016

Do you automatically terminate employees who aren’t ready to return to work after using up their FMLA leave? That may be okay under the FMLA.

FMLA retaliation requires ‘but for’ proof

03/09/2016

Employees who claim they were fired for taking FMLA leave must show that taking leave was the sole reason they were fired—what’s known as the “but-for” cause.

DOL initiating more FMLA enforcement

03/07/2016

You don’t have to be sued to lose an FMLA case.

Can you ban workers from moonlighting during FMLA leave?

03/03/2016

It may seem crazy that your employees can use their allotted job-protected FMLA leave time to work on a second job. But, as long as they have a legitimate reason for the leave, they can use their leave any way they please.

FMLA: Notice Requirements

02/15/2016

HR Law 101: Employees who want to take FMLA leave must give their employer 30-day advance notice when the need for leave is foreseeable. Employers should respond in writing within five business days to their leave requests …

Postpone discipline while awaiting FMLA certification

02/10/2016

It can take a long time to process an FMLA request, especially if the employee doesn’t promptly respond to demands to provide medical certification of the need for leave.

FMLA case: Your hands could be tied for years

02/04/2016

A federal court has issued an injunction preventing an employer from firing a worker seeking to take FMLA leave until the litigation ends. That could take years.

Feds target no-fault attendance

01/08/2016

No-fault attendance programs were designed to be completely objective, the idea being that all absences and therefore all workers are treated equally. But the FMLA and ADA require employers to know why an employee was absent, so the “hear no evil” approach can’t work.

Light duty essentially admits FMLA eligibility

01/06/2016

When an employee returns from FMLA leave and his employer assigns him to light-duty work, that is basically an acknowledgment that the employee has a serious health condition incapacitating enough to interfere with performing an essential job function. The employer can’t later challenge that part of FMLA eligibility.

Investigation reveals bogus use of FMLA leave? You can and should discipline employee

01/04/2016

Some employees seem to think that if they are approved for FMLA leave, their employers have to accept their time off as legitimate. That’s true to a point. But it doesn’t mean employers can’t ferret out leave abuse if they have reason to believe the employee isn’t being honest.