Leave

Take off (or not): Paid leave is relatively rare

10/12/2015

Almost every employer offers employees a handful of paid holidays. Otherwise, less than half of employers offer paid leave benefits.

DOL grants to fund research on paid sick and family leave

10/06/2015

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau has awarded $1.55 million in grants to eight state and local employment and labor departments to research and analyze how paid leave programs can be developed and implemented across the country.

Executive order grants paid sick leave to fed contractors’ employees

09/09/2015

President Obama picked Labor Day to announce an executive order requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave benefits to their employees, including 300,000 workers who currently have no paid leave.

California’s paid sick leave amendment requires 3 days’ leave per year

08/26/2015

An amendment to California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 requires employers to offer employees three days or 24 hours of paid sick leave per year. The original law required employers to provide at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, or to provide an up-front allocation of at least 24 hours. The accrual requirement created a big headache, since most employers do not accrue paid time off on a per-hour basis.

The paid leave movement marches on

07/14/2015

Paid sick leave is quickly catching on as a must-have benefit, driven by both government mandates and business realities. But is there a downside?

Late returning from leave? No extension request? Feel free to fire

06/29/2015

Employers sometimes worry about terminating an employee who hasn’t showed up for work when her approved leave expires. That shouldn’t be a problem if you previously made it clear that it’s the employee’s responsibility to keep you updated with their status and to ask for an extension if necessary.

Virgin’s paid parental leave: Innovation or stunt?

06/19/2015

British business mogul and Virgin CEO Richard Branson is in the news again for a new workplace policy granting a full year of paid parental leave to employees of Virgin Management, the investment arm of the Virgin Group.

After exempt employee uses up paid leave, what do we do when he misses work again?

06/09/2015

Q. I have a salaried employee who used all his vacation and sick time. He is allowed a total of 21 days and has used 22. He wants to take more vacation in November and is always sick (so he’ll probably be out more). Can I deduct from his pay if he’s out more? Or can I take days from next year? This may be an ongoing thing every year.

Minneapolis mayor Hodges calls for more worker-friendly policies

05/18/2015

In her second State of the City address, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges called for more regular work schedules, more overtime pay and greater access to paid sick days.

As military-leave season nears, plan now for reservists’ absence

04/17/2015

Summer is usually when employees who belong to the National Guard and military Reserves give their two weeks of duty to Uncle Sam. Some military-connected employees may be deployed for longer periods of time. Now is the time to prepare for their absence.