FMLA

Empower supervisors to accommodate pregnant subordinates

08/09/2024

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to reasonably accommodate pregnancy-related conditions. Recently issued EEOC guidance on the PWFA makes it clear that employers need to empower first-line supervisors to make many of those accommodations on the spot with little or no documentation. A recent case highlights why it’s essential to delegate PWFA accommodations authority to front-line managers and supervisors.

FMLA, ADA and attendance: Consider health problems before firing for failing to call off

07/29/2024

Ordinarily, employers can require employees to notify their boss if they anticipate having to miss work. But there’s an exception for those times when the employee simply can’t make that call because of their disability or serious health condition. Always double-check and consider the circumstances before making a final discipline or termination decision based on an employee’s failure to call.

Paging all humans: The FLSA & the FMLA still need you

07/17/2024

Artificial intelligence has taken firm hold in American workplaces. By far, the focus is on how generative AI will either streamline tasks or supplant employees altogether. The Department of Labor isn’t buying the employees-will-soon-be-replaced talk. Human oversight is still necessary to the proper functioning of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, the DOL concluded.

Prepare to comply: Final PWFA rules now in effect almost everywhere

06/21/2024

Final rules implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect June 18, with partial exceptions limited to employers in Louisiana and Mississippi, employers affiliated with the Catholic Church and state government agencies in Texas. That means almost all employers must now comply with the final PWFA rules.

Court rejects PWFA challenge, rules to take effect June 18

06/17/2024

Final rules for enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act can take effect as scheduled on June 18, now that a federal court in Arkansas has rejected a lawsuit contesting abortion-related provisions of the law.

PWFA and the ADA: How accommodations may differ

05/31/2024

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act entitles pregnant workers to reasonable accommodations before, during and after pregnancy. These can run the gamut from simple deviations from common workplace rules to granting leave so a new mother can recover from childbirth. PWFA accommodations potentially go far beyond what’s required under the ADA’s reasonable accommodations provisions.

17 states sue to block PWFA rule from taking effect

04/29/2024

The lawsuit, filed April 25 by Tennessee’s attorney general in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Arkansas, asserts that the PWFA was enacted to ensure “pregnant women receive workplace accommodations to protect their pregnancies and unborn children.”

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act final regulations go into effect June 18

04/19/2024

The EEOC has issued the long-awaited final regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The regs are scheduled to be published today in the Federal Register, and will become effective in 60 days, on June 18, 2024.

Who qualifies as ‘family’ for FMLA purposes? It could be anyone

04/05/2024

The FMLA allows employees to take up to 12 unpaid weeks of job-protected leave when they’re needed to care for a close family member such as a child or parent. The eligibility criteria seem simple. Surely a child is one’s offspring and a parent is one’s biological or adoptive mom or dad. Using a Latin phrase—in loco parentis—the DOL says almost anyone can be a close family member under the right circumstances.

Think twice before firing an employee for FMLA abuse

03/20/2024

An employee on FMLA leave for their own serious health condition can’t work for you. This doesn’t consign them to sitting at home until their leave is up, however. A federal trial court ruled that an employee on FMLA leave could have her day in court after she was fired for chaperoning her son’s senior trip to Jamaica.