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Maternity leave for small employers

04/01/2008
Q. We are a small not-for-profit organization with eight full-time and 20 (give or take) part-time employees. One of our full-time employees is asking about maternity leave. We currently do not have a policy in place for maternity leave. What are our options? …

15 years after enactment, FMLA changing with the times

04/01/2008
The FMLA is undergoing change. In early 2008, Congress made the first significant amendments to the law since it was enacted almost 15 years ago in 1993. Only a few weeks later, the U.S. Labor Department published proposed changes to its FMLA regulations …

Can we dock vacation time if sick leave is exhausted?

04/01/2008
Q. If an employee is out sick but has already used up her sick leave hours, can we legally subtract from her vacation time instead? …

Collecting unpaid health insurance premiums after FMLA leave

04/01/2008
Q. One of our employees recently came back from FMLA leave. Before he left, we never agreed on the method by which he would pay his share of health insurance premiums. It’s been two months now, and the employee hasn’t mentioned it or attempted to pay us back. What can we do to collect the premium? …

Time records crucial in FMLA eligibility calculation

03/01/2008

As a practical matter, the FMLA requires employers to carefully keep track of all hours each employee works. If the employer’s time records don’t include all time worked, it is up to the employer to prove to the court that the employee didn’t work enough hours to qualify for FMLA leave. With poor records, that may be hard to do …

Paid sick leave proposal put before legislature

03/01/2008

A proposal that would require most Ohio companies to give employees at least seven paid sick days each year is headed to the state Legislature under the Healthy Families Act …

Paying back ‘Borrowed’ vacation leave

03/01/2008

Q. We allow our employees to “borrow” unearned vacation time. Our policy provides that if employees quit or are terminated with a “negative” vacation balance, the amount that they owe us for the vacation time taken before it was earned will be deducted from their final pay. Can we do this? …

FMLA extended to military families: More changes to come?

03/01/2008

For the first time since it became law in 1993, the FMLA has been amended. President Bush signed H.R. 4986 in January. The law grants FMLA-protected leave to workers who care for injured soldiers and families of reservists called to duty …

Furniture firm makes interest-Free vacation loans to employees

03/01/2008

Employees at Phoenix-based Goodmans Interior Structures get a little help when it comes to planning—and paying for—their vacations. The office furniture supplier makes interest-free vacation loans to employees through Club MEG, named for CEO Murray E. Goodman …

Returning from FMLA leave may require ADA accommodation

03/01/2008

Balancing time off with reasonable accommodations can be tough if one of your employees is covered by both the FMLA and the ADA. You must be especially careful if a disability means an employee needs to take her 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave, but can’t quite return to work without an accommodation …