Employers that count FMLA-covered absences against employees are interfering with their FMLA rights. Before you make a final termination decision based on poor...
Say you’re a manager sitting with employees at lunch and one of them casually mentions her parents are aging and in poor health. You note your folks aren’t...
Sometimes, an employee needs just a few hours of FMLA leave to make a doctor’s appointment or to drive a relative to treatment. What if the employee wants to take...
It’s perfectly legitimate to prohibit recreational travel during any approved, paid sick leave. If you also happen to substitute paid sick leave for unpaid FMLA...
Some employees mistakenly believe that when they take FMLA leave, they are guaranteed an unchanged job when they return. That’s not true. What the FMLA promises...
You must allow employees to take job-protected FMLA leave for certain medical treatments. But what counts as “treatment”? Do you have to grant time off for...
Here’s a basic way to avoid FMLA trouble: Before punishing employees for poor attendance, double-check to make sure that none of the time they missed included...
Once a supervisor or manager has reason to believe an employee may qualify for FMLA leave, the company is obligated to investigate. Ignoring that obligation can be a...
Employees may need some time off to get their FMLA serious-health-condition forms certified. But that doesn’t mean they can stop showing up for work and ignore...
Q. Some of our employees routinely ask to use FMLA when they are five or 10 minutes late. It’s a scheduling nightmare and hurts morale. Does the FMLA cover...
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a worker who claimed she was fired in retaliation for taking intermittent FMLA leave. The court...
Sometimes, you have no choice but to contact an employee during FMLA leave—for example, if someone can’t find a file or needs a password to access records....
Employees who take FMLA leave are entitled to return to their job or to an equivalent one. If the FMLA absence necessitated hiring a replacement, there’s no...
Do you get nervous and sweaty when an employee asks for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to help a sick family member? What kind of “needed...
Some employees believe all they have to do to invoke FMLA leave protection is call in sick and wait for their employer to request medical certification. Wrong! Merely...
