• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

FMLA

Any way to demand repayment of health insurance premiums?

11/10/2008

Q. We have an employee who failed to return from an FMLA leave of absence. During the leave, we had been paying our customary share of her medical insurance premiums. Is there anything we can do to recoup the expenses we paid for this employee?

We’re going to be slammed this month! Must we let employee remain on FMLA leave?

11/06/2008

Q. One of our employees hurt her back lifting boxes. She has been off work for several weeks. We have been counting her absence against her FMLA entitlement. She was scheduled to return to work recently, but she now tells us the healing will take longer than expected. December is our busiest time of the year! Must we continue giving her leave?       

May we replace an employee on FMLA leave?

11/06/2008

Q. We have an employee on FMLA leave. Can we replace her and find a different job for her when she returns?

Employment law in the Obama administration: What to expect

11/06/2008

With a Democratic-controlled Congress, President-elect Barack Obama will likely push for these employment law priorities …

What should we do once an employee exhausts FMLA leave?

11/06/2008

Q. We are a large company and are dealing with a situation with a sick store manager. He has used up all his FMLA leave and is still not able to return to work. Can we safely terminate his employment now?

If FMLA is issue, log time of firing decision

10/22/2008

Employers that can show they had decided to terminate an employee before they knew he needed FMLA leave aren’t liable for interfering with that leave. But don’t think you won’t be challenged on your timing. That’s why you must make sure you can prove exactly when you made the decision …

OK to fire employee who lies about FMLA absence

10/22/2008

Employees sometimes don’t want to give their employers personal details about an illness or a condition that may be covered by the FMLA. But if you find out they lied about the nature of their health problems, you can fire them for violating your honesty policy.

Can you be personally sued for an FMLA mistake?

10/17/2008

Lawyers believe two pockets are better than one. That’s why, whenever possible, they’ll try to sue both the employer plus the supervisor (or the HR director!) who made the alleged employment law mistake. That means the supervisor’s home and nest egg could be at risk …

Run FMLA leave concurrent with other leaves

10/17/2008

Q. One of our employees will be out for medical treatments for four to six weeks. He doesn’t want to use FMLA leave, just his accumulated sick and vacation days. We’re afraid he’ll use them up and then demand 12 weeks’ FMLA leave. Can we make him use FMLA leave first? …

Caring for grandchild qualifies for FMLA leave

10/14/2008

When an employee has a baby or adopts a child, it’s easy to determine that he or she is eligible for FMLA leave. But it gets murkier when the baby who needs care isn’t the employee’s own child. The FMLA regulations list eligible dependent children as those to whom the employee has “day-to-day responsibility to care for and financially support.”