Forums
Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
Legal Forum
Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
We have a senior vp who tends to avoid any unpaid sick time. He's having a hip replacement tomorrow & hadn't informed HR. As soon as we found out, we gave to him the med cert (only last Thursday).
0
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54Discussion:DiscussionId36088
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
|
Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
posted at 8/31/2009 4:13 AM EDT
|
Posts: 6
First: 8/24/2009 Last: 9/3/2009 |
We have a senior vp who tends to avoid any unpaid sick time. He's having a hip replacement tomorrow & hadn't informed HR. As soon as we found out, we gave to him the med cert (only last Thursday). I offered to send it to his doctor for him, since he was rather upset (which works to our advantage anyway). In any event, the doctor now has 15 days to respond. He will be out for the next week and is attempting to assert his right to work from home. If we get the cert back and the doctor indicates that he cannot work for, let's say, a week, and he claims he has already worked from home, what can we do? Thank you, Denise |
|
|
Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
posted at 8/31/2009 5:36 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Well, you still have to pay him for work done under FLSA even if he does so without the company's approval or while out on medical leave, but the company can discipline him for it, up to and including termination if he was told not to do so and did anyway. However, if he works any part of any day, he must be paid the whole day (assuming he is exempt).
If the goal is him NOT working, I strongly suggest blocking his ability to work (changing passwords, taking away company provided phone, informing other employees not to call him while he is out, etc). Is your company/this employee covered under FMLA? If so, you generally can't require him to take MORE time than is needed. But under intermittent (not taking a full day), you can dock his pay for the partial day not worked. It's one of the very few exceptions to exempt pay under FLSA. But I don't think HR should be the one approving/disapproving this issue. Does HR know for sure that higher management does NOT approve of his working from home? Are you also providing his medical doctor with a job description? There are many jobs that could temporarily be done from home. So I wouldn't dismiss it without discussion. Especially if the higher management is expecting him to be available even for a phone call a day. Or to call in and check messages/return calls etc. |
|
|
Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
posted at 9/3/2009 5:08 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 155
First: 8/24/2009 Last: 2/9/2010 |
It would not be unusual for executives to work remotely and in fact could be rather common. What you need to determine is whether or not the executives boss has approved his working from home in these circumstances. While you may not be able to do much regarding what has already happened his boss can make it clear that working from home will NOT happen.
Care too should be given to what has been done with others in similar situiations to avoid any accusations of retaliation. Don Herrmann |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Lapse in 15 day Med Cert Requirement
