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Compensation & Benefits

How to put a stop to FMLA leave abuse

10/01/2007

Q. I suspect one of the employees in our office is abusing his FMLA leave because he always seems to call off work at the end of the week or around holidays. What options are available to us to deny his suspicious leave requests? —E.L. …

Religious accommodations

10/01/2007

Q. An employee of ours is requesting a personal day off for religious observance. He is salaried and has exhausted all vacation and personal time. Are we required to give him the day off? …

How to prevent employees from abusing PTO leave

10/01/2007

A reader of our e-mail newsletter, HR Weekly, recently posed this question to the e-letter’s Q&A Forum section: “We allow employees to take paid time off (PTO) in hourly increments, but they often use PTO when running late in the morning or for unexpected ‘appointments.’ How can we get a rein on our PTO leave?” …

Act fast on FMLA leave requests—Delay triggers a violation

10/01/2007

If you don’t train supervisors to immediately forward all FMLA requests to the HR office, you may find your organization on the losing end of an FMLA-interference lawsuit. An important new court ruling shows it doesn’t matter whether the employee’s FMLA leave request eventually is approved …

3-Month ‘Future Leave’ Helps Retain Employees

10/01/2007

Employees at Accenture, a management consulting company, can take three months off—for any reason—and their jobs will be waiting for them when they return. As part of the company’s Future Leave program, which grants unpaid leave of up to three months with continued benefits, supervisors don’t even ask why the employee wants to take the time off …

Ohio poised to mandate generous family leave

10/01/2007

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has proposed a new statewide policy to guarantee 12 weeks’ maternity leave to mothers working for companies with as few as four employees, with no minimum length of service. The law would replace Ohio’s existing law, which requires companies to give a “reasonable period of time off,” a standard which has been confusing …

FMLA intermittent leave and hours worked

10/01/2007

Q. We have an employee with a chronic health condition who began taking FMLA intermittent leave in February. She had worked more than 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave started. By June, she had dropped below 1,250 hours. Does she lose her eligibility now? …

Minor sleep problems don’t a disability make

10/01/2007

Does your office look like the set for the latest sleep-medication commercial? You know, the one where employees drag themselves to work while their dreams come to visit them. These days it seems almost everyone is a bit sleep deprived. But don’t let bleary-eyed employees make excuses for tardiness. The fact  is, while insomnia can be a disability under the ADA, very few cases are severe enough to qualify as a disability.

Understanding how Illinois leave laws overlap with FMLA

10/01/2007

Illinois employers must comply with numerous state leave laws, in addition to the federal FMLA. To track leave usage, employers must understand which state leave laws overlap with the FMLA …

Tough attendance policy? Careful when calling ‘Strike three’

10/01/2007

To combat absenteeism, many organizations use a progressive discipline approach. These plans feature escalating penalties plus a no-excuses approach to the final violation. Some plans call for automatic termination when an employee hits a specific number of days absent or times tardy. That’s fine. Those measures may decrease late arrivals and cut down on unexcused absences. But if a termination is about occur, HR must be sure the last incident is beyond question …