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Determining FMLA need / status
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Determining FMLA need / status
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
I have a staff person who is having to use her annual time to care for her son who has "issues" where she is required to take him for evaluations,doctors appoinments and at times having to get him fro
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Determining FMLA need / status
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 3/16/2011 9:53 AM EDT
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Posts: 69
First: 4/3/2000 Last: 6/29/2011 |
I have a staff person who is having to use her annual time to care for her son who has "issues" where she is required to take him for evaluations,doctors appoinments and at times having to get him from school. I have asked our HR to look into the issue and see if she shouldn't be on FMLA. Their response was they didn't know enough about the son's illness to determine if it is covered by FMLA and they didn't think her time off is all that significant. They also stated that she hasn't missed an extended amount of work at one time for a specific medical condition. I am wondering if our HR needs to initiate some action in determining FMLA leave for this staff person. Or perhaps i'm not focusing in on the sole purpose of FMLA. ? Please enlighten! thanks |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 3/16/2011 10:17 AM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
You would not be wrong to send your employee the paperwork for a physician to certify eligibility for FMLA. It sounds like your employee's child has met at least one of the conditions for a serious medical condition, and that is the ongoing care from a qualified medical professional.
The amount of time taken off is immaterial. In any case in which a need for FMLA is at the very least suspected, certification for that leave should be obtained and any time taken off to take care of the situation should be charged to FMLA. Unless your HR department knows something about the situation that you don't, I think they're being foolish with their advice. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 3/16/2011 10:18 AM EDT
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Posts: 45
First: 1/13/2011 Last: 4/14/2011 |
I don't know exactly what you said to your HR but my interpretation is that HR needs top provide the employee with the appropriate FMLA paperwork.
They can give it to you and you can give it to the employee as well. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 3/17/2011 3:19 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
They are definitely being short sighted, because there is now a possibility that if they were to terminate her for absences that some of these MIGHT have been covered under FMLA.
We have the perspective of better safe than sorry. Obviously they don't. Or they know they won't terminate her regarding these absences (that is they aren't a big enough deal to worry about). Again short sighted. Because at this point, the employee still has 12 weeks protected. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 4/6/2011 8:10 AM EDT
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Posts: 3
First: 8/23/2007 Last: 4/6/2011 |
The supervisor should be notifying the employee of their rights under the FMLA. If a dr can certify that the child has a serious health condition, then the parent may qualify as the primary care giver for intermittent leave, which will need to be tracked against the 480 hrs/year max. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 4/6/2011 9:33 AM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 4/6/2011 Last: 4/6/2011 |
I agree with everyone's comments above about giving the employee the FMLA paperwork - though I'm assuming the employee meets the FMLA eligibility requirements (at least 1 year of service and worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months); if not, check with HR to see if there's some other type of leave via the state that may apply. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 4/6/2011 10:02 AM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 4/6/2011 Last: 4/6/2011 |
Definitely get the FMLA paperwork to the employee. From an employer standpoint the FMLA paperwork becomes your defense that you have notified the employee of her right to leave and provides a means of limiting the amount of time she can be off for care of her son. Too often these cases end up with the employee missing more and more time with the employer then taking action without any documentation. |
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Determining FMLA need / status
posted at 4/6/2011 11:49 AM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 4/6/2011 Last: 4/6/2011 |
I agree that responding to the issue is necessary. If the employee qualifies, certainly, tracking the time is important for both the employee's and the employer's protection. What are the company's policies with regard to other types of personal time usage? This could also be an important consideration so that the employer can demonstrate fair and consistent application of law and policy. A person who may complain about how the company managed this issue might be someone other than the staff person directly involved. |
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