Leave

Must unused ‘floating holidays’ be paid?

03/29/2013

Q. We gave eligible employees a “floating holiday” in lieu of having Dec. 31 as a paid holiday. We generally pay employees for all unused vacation, sick and personal time upon termination, but we have no policy regarding an unused floating holiday. Do we have to pay workers for any unused floating holidays upon termination?

Pregnancy problems? PDLL is minimum leave

03/20/2013

If an employee is experiencing pregnancy complications, it may not be enough to provide four months of leave under California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave Law. For practical purposes, four months is the minimum leave employers are required to provide. You may owe more time off under the California FEHA, as long as it doesn’t create an undue hardship on your business operations.

Consider ADA if sick worker needs more leave

03/20/2013

Employees who are temporarily unable to perform their jobs because of a disability are entitled to reasonable ADA accommodations. You’ll want to think about starting the interactive accommodations process as soon as a potentially disabled employee asks for more than the usual amount of leave.

New pregnancy protections ring in the New Year in California

01/22/2013

California employees now enjoy expanded pregnancy rights after new Fair Employment and Housing Commission regulations took effect Dec. 30, 2012. The regulations bar employers from discriminating against employees for virtually any pregnancy-related condition.

Can we offer exempts extra vacation bonuses?

12/18/2012

Q. Can we give an exempt employee a bonus of extra vacation days in addition to the standard accrued time off outlined in our employee handbook?

If you agree to a late return date, extend employees’ reinstatement date, too

12/12/2012

The Minnesota Parental Leave Act provides up to six weeks of leave for childbirth and recovery or adoption. Employees who take leave are entitled to reinstatement. It also includes a provision for extending parental leave, stating that leave “may not exceed six weeks, unless agreed to by the employer.” Until now, it remained up in the air what should happen to the reinstatement right if the employer agreed to a longer leave.

Can employees bank OT hours for extra leave?

12/12/2012

Q. Sometimes, our employees work overtime and we note those hours in an overtime bank so they can take time off later. One of our employees claims this is illegal and that we have to pay him. Is that true?

How much leave notice does CFRA require?

11/16/2012

Q. An employee just notified HR he would like to take immediate leave under the California Family Rights Act. Can we require more notice?

Holiday scheduling: What employers are planning in 2013

11/07/2012

According to a new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, a great majority of employers (more than 90%) will observe six big holidays in 2013 by closing for the day. Here’s a breakdown of what percentage of employers are planning to observe 25 different days in 2013:

Must we provide benefits during leave?

10/22/2012

Q. Are we required to continue to offer our employees benefits while they are out on leave?