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FMLA

Employees have three years to sue for willful violations of the FMLA

04/02/2019
Employers that retaliate against employees for taking FMLA leave may find themselves being sued a full three years after the alleged infraction.

DOL opinions on FMLA leave, volunteerism

03/21/2019
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new opinion letters addressing FMLA leave and compensation for employees who spend time volunteering.

Another reason to track absenteeism: It can rule out unemployment benefits

03/13/2019
If you want to terminate for attendance problems, make sure you consider only unexcused absences when making your decision.

Ensure call-ins state reason for absence

03/07/2019
Unless you have a call-in protocol that allows you to convincingly argue that an employee didn’t provide enough information to classify the absence as qualifying for FMLA leave, it’s her word against yours.

FMLA: Keep records of all absences, whether or not they were approved

03/06/2019
Sloppy attendance record-keeping can lead to lengthy and expensive litigation. Particular trouble awaits if you fire an employee for poor attendance around the time she requests or takes FMLA leave. That almost guarantees a lawsuit.

Without FMLA notice, no FMLA leave required

02/22/2019
Employees have to let their employers know when they need FMLA leave. Although they don’t have to specifically mention the FMLA, they do have to pass on enough information so the employer can reasonably understand that’s what the employee is requesting.

Ask these questions when considering unlimited PTO

02/19/2019
The benefits of unlimited paid-time-off policies are obvious. But many of the legal risks they create are not.

Paid parental leave gaining momentum

02/14/2019
Earlier this month, President Trump used part of his State of the Union address to renew a call for paid parental leave, the latest sign that the benefit—long considered a pipedream—could become a reality in America.

FMLA can’t be used to create long weekends

02/12/2019
Employees who meet the minimum service and medical requirements are entitled to intermittent FMLA leave. But what if they appear to be abusing their FMLA rights to gain favorable schedules, in the process creating staffing problems for the employer?

You don’t have to send out a search party to notify absent employees of leave policies

02/06/2019
Em­­ployers that have tried to tell an em­­­ployee what’s missing in a leave request don’t have an independent obli­­gation to hunt down the employee to give her the information if she hasn’t provided contact information.