FMLA Guidelines

Q. One of our employees has asked to go on medical leave due to “stress.” Does stress qualify as a condition that requires leave?

HR Law 101: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 prohibits discrimination on the basis of "pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions." Employers can't deny a woman a job or a promotion merely because she's pregnant or has had an abortion ...

Employees who run out of FMLA leave may still be eligible for additional time off under the ADA if their condition qualifies as a disability.

Here’s a recipe for a lawsuit: Terminate a good employee who just told you she needs FMLA leave and has scheduled surgery. The timing alone will be enough to let the lawsuit proceed.

Q. We have a salaried employee who needs to take FMLA leave. Some days off will be full days, so they would be unpaid (unless she has vacation or personal time). But how do we pay for the intermittent days on which she only takes a half day off?  

Surprise! If you reasonably believe an employee who’s out on FMLA leave broke a workplace rule, you can fire him—even if it turns out you were wrong.

Employees who take FMLA leave can’t be disciplined for work that goes undone while they are out. To avoid confusion, always adjust schedules or find backup to meet inflexible deadlines while the employee who is usually responsible for the work is away.

Some employees and their treating doctors seem to believe that as long as a medical professional says an employee can’t work, that’s enough to justify FMLA leave. That’s not true.

The FMLA allows employers that don’t want to accept an employee’s medical certification to ask for (and pay for) a second opinion. If the two opinions contradict one another, the employer may pay for a third, tie-breaking assessment. But that can be expensive. If you prefer to simply deny the employee’s leave request, that’s fine.

Q. Do we have to take a nurse’s signature on an FMLA certification? I’d like to have an actual doctor sign the forms so I am sure someone actually saw the employee.