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State by State 2015 Short-Term Child-Care Leave Laws

07/13/2011
In honor of the impending beginning of another school year, and first-day school jitters everywhere, this chart summarizes states’ short-term leave laws. States that don’t have laws aren’t listed. In most cases, employees may substitute paid accrued leave for unpaid leave. To get the full story on state leave laws, contact your state labor department.

448 million unused vacation days in 2010

07/01/2011
On average, U.S. workers took only 14 of the 18 vacation days they earned last year, a total of 448 million unused days. French workers, on the other hand, took 35 of the 37 vacation days they were due.

The EEOC, maximum leave policies and the new ADA amendments

06/30/2011
The EEOC is getting serious about helping disabled Americans. In early June, the agency held a public meeting on the use of leave as a reasonable accommodation. That move came just two weeks after the agency put its new ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) regulations into effect.

Switching from traditional leave to PTO? 7 questions to ask

06/29/2011
As you manage the scheduling head­­aches that come with summer vacations, it may be time to entirely reconsider how you handle employee leave. One option: Switch from a traditional time-off program to a paid time off (PTO) bank. Before you make the switch, you’ll ask some basic questions:

HubSpot ditches vacation policy, tells staff: ‘Take what you need’

06/28/2011

Marketing software company HubSpot ditched its vacation policy a year ago, along with paid-time-off forms and vaca­tion rollover. Now, if employees want to take time off, they just take it. CEO Brian Halligan calls the standard corporate vacation policy “a relic of an era when people worked 9 to 5 in an office.”

Suspect that ’emergency’ was bogus? When to ask for a (real) doctor’s note

06/16/2011
Some people will do anything to get out of work early, including lying about their child’s health. One employer did the smart thing and demanded proof when it became suspicious.

Feel free to deny employees’ FMLA leave requests that aren’t legitimate under the law

06/15/2011

Some employees think they’re entitled to FMLA leave for every family emergency. They’re wrong. You should only grant leave requests based on legitimate reasons and reject clearly frivolous ones. You should also require employees to follow your rules and provide adequate notice.

Allow FMLA leave before terminating employee

06/15/2011

Are you thinking about terminating an employee for good business reasons, but know he needs to take FMLA leave? While you can legally discharge him, he could challenge the termination as interference with the right to FMLA. But what if you allowed him to take FMLA leave and told him not to return?

8 tips for handling summer military-leave payroll issues

06/14/2011
Summer is usually when employees who belong to the National Guard and military Reserves give their two weeks of duty to Uncle Sam. Now is the time to prepare for their absence, by following these eight tips.

Must we hold job for injured worker?

06/08/2011
Q. We have an employee who has been off work for more than 10 months because of a workers’ comp-covered injury. We have no idea when she may possibly be able to return to work. Are we absolutely required under the law to give this employee her job back whenever she believes she is ready to return to work, no matter how long she has been out?