FMLA Guidelines

Sometimes an employee who complains that his supervisor is biased is absolutely right. If it turns out that a worker’s accusation of discrimination is true, don’t hesitate to fire the supervisor and move on.

Workers at two Texas health care companies are suing, alleging in separate lawsuits that their employers discriminated against them because of health-related issues. One suit claims pregnancy discrimination and FMLA interference, while the other says a worker was fired just before she was scheduled to undergo a costly surgical procedure.

Before you enter into official files your handwritten notes on conversations, recollections or thoughts about an HR decision, consider how your words might be interpreted. Best practice: Draft a memo that summarizes and fleshes out your notes—and that makes your ideas perfectly clear. Then toss out the original notes.

Here’s something to consider if you discover an FMLA leave mistake: Just fix it. If you erroneously imposed some kind of discipline for violating your attendance rules, rescind it. Chances are a court won’t hold your error against you.

Let’s face it: It makes a manager’s job harder when employees are out on FMLA leave. That’s especially true with intermittent leave. Don’t let those hard feelings turn into an FMLA interference lawsuit. Instead, insist that managers honor approved intermittent leave without hassling the employee.

It’s certainly possible to terminate an employee who returns from FMLA leave—if you have good reasons un­­related to the FMLA.

Hey, it happens: Sometimes, employers mess up. But they can undo much of the damage by acting fast to fix mistakes. Take this case, in which a termination letter was sent by mistake while the disciplinary process was still under way. A quick explanation and retraction saved the day.

A federal trial court has ruled that FMLA-ineligible employees can sue if an employer erroneously told them they were eligible for leave and they relied on that information to their detriment.

The FMLA says employers can run out the FMLA clock by counting paid time off against an employee's 12-week leave entitlement. Make sure employees understand how that works. That way, employees won’t run out of leave and lose their jobs because they didn’t realize the FMLA clock was ticking.

Most lawsuits are not triggered by great injustices. Instead, simple management mistakes and perceived slights start the snowball of discontent rolling downhill toward the courtroom. Here are 12 of the biggest manager mistakes that harm an organization’s credibility in court.