Leave

Can you force workers to take vacation time?

05/01/2008

It might be a good idea to nudge employees out the door if they’re reluctant to use their vacation time, especially if they handle your company’s finances. For example, the rogue trader who recently cost a French bank $7.2 billion in fraud reportedly never took a day’s vacation or sick leave …

New religious discrimination legislation expands NJLAD

04/28/2008

Employers, take notice: A new type of accommodation is required in New Jersey. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has signed into law an amendment to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) that makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee because of a sincerely held religious practice or observance …

Seeking more information so employers can plan around intermittent FMLA leave

04/28/2008

Q. I’ve required employees seeking FMLA leave to have their doctors fill out the DOL’s medical certification form. Too often, though, the information I get from doctors is too vague to be much help. Is there any way I can get more detail in these forms? …

Pennsylvania will consider paid leave bills

04/25/2008

In the wake of New Jersey’s recent passage of family leave legislation, more state legislatures are considering bills that would require paid family leave. Fourteen states, including Pennsylvania, will consider mandatory paid family leave this year …

Legislators debate paid family leave bills

04/23/2008

New Jersey has become the third state, following California and Washington, to grant mandatory paid family leave to employees. And it looks like the idea is gaining momentum: 14 states, including North Carolina, will consider mandatory paid family leave in this year’s legislative sessions …

FMLA entitles you to request proof worker’s parent has serious health condition

04/21/2008

Do you routinely accept employees’ claims they need FMLA time off to care for an elderly parent? If so, consider a new policy. While it may be easier to approve leave than to challenge it, blanket approvals may prove costly in the long run as more and more “sandwich generation” employees find themselves having to care for both their children and their elderly parents …

New FMLA military leave: Who can take it?

04/17/2008

Q. Does the new FMLA law for injured soldiers also apply to service members who were injured during past wars? And does the person have to be 100% disabled for their family members to be eligible for leave? — C.T., Missouri …

Must we offer time off as an ADA accommodation?

04/17/2008

Q. We employ fewer than 50 employees. What’s our obligation under the FMLA or the ADA to bring back an employee who has missed lots of work? We want to lay her off. Can we?

Is there such a thing as intermittent childbirth leave?

04/10/2008

Q. We have a question regarding FMLA leave following the birth of a child. One of our employees is pregnant. She has recently immigrated to the United States. She has informed us that she expects to take eight weeks of FMLA leave immediately after the child is born. Then after a few months, she would like to return to her home country to visit with family for a month. In other words, she wants to split up FMLA leave into an eight-week period and a four-week period. Can FMLA leave for a new child be split up in this fashion? …

Consistently applied blanket-Leave limits don’t violate FMLA

04/09/2008

If you’re having absenteeism problems, consider instituting a policy that says an employee who exceeds an absence threshold will be automatically terminated—regardless of the reason. Such a policy can cover absences relating to personal or vacation leave, time off covered by workers’ comp and even FMLA leave …