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FMLA

Holiday sampler: 4 treats to make HR’s season bright

10/08/2011
The holidays are special, but they’re also an HR headache. Our early gift to you: Advice on everything from planning seasonal celebrations to handling end-of-year scheduling hassles.

Is this worker entitled to FMLA leave? She was out for months on workers’ comp

10/04/2011
Q. One of our employees missed several months of work last year because of a workers’ compensation qualifying injury. She has now requested leave under the FMLA. Do we have to grant this request for leave?

What should we do? It looks like employee used FMLA leave for elective surgery

09/28/2011
Q. An employee told her supervisor that she needed surgery. We approved time off under the FMLA with the understanding that she would provide certification after the leave began. We later discovered that this “necessary” procedure was liposuction. Can we revoke approval of medical leave under the FMLA and convert sick hours she used to vacation hours instead? Can we fire her based on inappropriate use of the FMLA?

No additional leave required after FMLA ends

09/28/2011

Employees covered by the FMLA are entitled to return to their jobs after taking up to 12 weeks off to deal with a serious health condition. But sometimes employees aren’t fully recovered when their leave runs out. Then they often ask for some form of accommodation that will let them perform the essential functions of their jobs. Employers don’t have to reinstate such employees under the FMLA.

After FMLA, consider granting more ADA leave

09/28/2011
What should you do if an em­­ployee has used up all her available FMLA and personal leave and still needs periodic time off? If she has a disability, you may be required to let her take more leave as a reasonable accommodation under both the ADA and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Managing ‘job creep’ in today’s jobless recovery

09/13/2011
More than half of all employees have taken on new roles during the eco­nomic downturn, according to a recent survey. That’s “job creep,” and it’s a big problem, with important employment law implications. It may already be hurting your company. Here’s how to fix it.

Know the FMLA rules: You must allow intermittent leave before women give birth

09/13/2011

Some employers mistakenly believe that women who want to use FMLA leave when they become pregnant can’t demand intermittent leave. Managers may be confusing FMLA provisions that apply to the time leading up to the birth of a child with those that apply to the time after the child is born (or adopted).

Does long-distance ‘phone care’ qualify for FMLA leave?

09/09/2011
When you grant an employee FMLA leave to care for a sick relative, do you wonder what type of “care” they must really be giving to qualify for time off under the FMLA? A new court ruling defines care as being in physical proximity to the relative. Cutting a lawn in a different time zone doesn’t cut it …

You’re risking FMLA lawsuit if call-in rules don’t allow flexibility in emergencies

09/07/2011
Employers are generally free to set their own rules for when and to whom employees must call to report that they will unexpectedly have to miss work. But thanks to a recent 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision, that’s now far less certain.

Feds find fault with ‘no fault’ attendance policies

09/06/2011

Verizon’s recent $20 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit—the largest disability settlement in EEOC history—is shining a spotlight on the legal risks of no-fault attendance policies. The lawsuit claimed the company violated the ADA by refusing to make exceptions to its no-fault attendance policy to accommodate employees with disabilities.