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Excuse disabled worker from strict attendance rules–but demand doctor’s note

03/19/2010
Employees with multiple medical problems may need to be off work at unpredictable times. That can be a problem if a no-fault attendance policy requires terminating an employee with too many absences. If you don’t want to fire an otherwise good worker, it’s perfectly reasonable to accommodate him by excusing him from the attendance policy—as long as he can provide a doctor’s note.

Insist on medical leave as accommodation if disabled worker can’t return to full duty

03/19/2010
Some disabled employees seem to believe they can get whatever accommodation they want. That’s not true. In reality, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act gives employers great leeway to choose accommodations that suit their businesses. That can include telling the employee to take medical leave until she is well enough to return.

You don’t have to pay for family leave unless your employees accrue sick leave

03/19/2010
The California Supreme Court has ruled that employers that don’t have a formal sick-leave accrual policy don’t have to pay employees for leave they take to care for a family member. So-called “kin-care” benefits apply only if employees earn sick leave over the course of their employment.

Suspect sick leave abuse? Set strong policy to stamp it out–and allow legit FMLA leave

03/12/2010

Unplanned absences can disrupt even the best-run workplaces. Of course, you don’t want truly sick employees to come to work if they have some contagious illness. Nor do you want to discourage employees from taking legitimate FMLA leave. Your challenge as an employer: Craft and enforce an attendance policy that allows or even encourages legitimate sick leave use while discouraging abuse.

Under PTO policy, must we pay out unused leave upon employee’s termination?

03/12/2010

Q. We offer employees a set number of paid time off (PTO) days per year, which they may use for any reason, including vacation and sick days. Must we pay out all earned but unused PTO days upon termination?

Keep track of all time off! Authorized leave counts toward employees’ FMLA eligibility

03/11/2010

If you grant time off to employees who aren’t yet eligible for FMLA leave, take note: If they’re on your payroll, their time off counts toward FMLA eligibility. That means that once they hit the one-year mark, they become entitled to those 12 unpaid FMLA weeks—and terminating them could launch an FMLA lawsuit. That wasn’t always the case …

Warn managers: Don’t mention FMLA during discussion about discharge

03/11/2010

One of the best ways to guarantee an employee will get her FMLA case in front of a jury is for her boss to mention her use of FMLA leave while discussing termination. The best idea: Have someone neutral from HR deliver the news that the employee is being let go.

OK to fire for absenteeism before FMLA eligibility

03/11/2010

Employers are often confused about how much absenteeism they must allow for employees who haven’t worked long enough to be covered by the FMLA, and who aren’t otherwise entitled to miss work as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. The bottom line is that if you treat everyone equally, you can set high attendance expectations—and fire those who don’t meet them.

We hear a worker is sick: What can we say?

03/10/2010

Q. We recently heard from a co-worker that an employee (“Mike”) seemed to be having some health issues. Mike hasn’t said anything to his supervisor or anyone else as far as we know. What can we say?

Remind your managers: No comments on family planning

03/09/2010

Most bosses understand they can’t use ethnic or racial slurs, but many don’t understand that the same common sense applies to discussing topics such as family planning. What sorts of comments are off limits? Just about anything that could make an employee think a supervisor might count it against her if she used FMLA leave.