The Family Medical Leave Act (the “FMLA”) entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take 12 (and in some cases related to military service, 26) weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical...more
How'd that happen? An employer who terminated an employee after he took intermittent FMLA leave for diabetes won its case, and recently won again on appeal. According to both courts, the employee appeared to be trying to...more
Intermittent medical leave requests under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) present some of the most vexing legal and business challenges for employers. The unpredictability of these absences can create scheduling and...more
In Knaup v. Molina Healthcare of Ohio, Inc., (No. 2:19-cv-166) the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio addressed whether an employee had received an extension of time for submitting medical...more
The Ninth Circuit and the California legislature recently updated employer leave requirements, impacting California employers. The Ninth Circuit recently handed down two decisions regarding leave under the Family Medical...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice seeking comment on proposed revisions to its Wage and Hour Division’s optional-use forms that employers often use to implement the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)....more
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) continues to present challenging questions for employers. In this episode, Keith Kopplin and Sarah Platt of our Milwaukee office walk through some of employers’ most frequently asked...more
Those sneaky little rascals! While the rest of us were enjoying our Labor Day holiday, those crazy kids over at the Department of Labor were still working away. Bless their little hearts! This time, they were busy posting new...more
Employers don’t call the Family and Medical Leave Act the “Friday and Monday Leave Act” for nothing, especially this time of year. The allure of summertime fun in the sun can cause an increase in employee absenteeism,...more
Did that FMLA certification arrive illegible? Is the information provided too vague? Are the responses to the questions internally inconsistent? Do you suspect that it wasn’t filled out by a healthcare provider at all?...more
Block FMLA leave has its own challenges. But intermittent FMLA leave can be downright painful – including the fact that intermittent leave claims are the most common type of lawsuit under the FMLA. When employees need to...more
“What did I do wrong?” and “Am I doing this correctly?” are frequent questions from clients regarding FMLA administration. This is the eleventh in a series highlighting some of the more common mistakes employers can...more
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), an employer is permitted to contact an employee’s healthcare provider, with the employee’s permission, to clarify a medical certification submitted in support of the employee’s...more
The FMLA and CFRA both permit an employer to require an employee requesting a leave of absence to provide a medical certification, but these laws differ with respect to the information and employer can request about the...more
Congress adopted the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”) to provide job security for employees who must miss work due to their own serious health condition, the birth of their children, to care for family members...more
As most employers know, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave for their own or a family member’s serious health condition and up to 26 weeks for military caregiver leave. While...more
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for specified family and medical reasons, also providing them with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same...more
A couple of clients have asked me recently whether a health care provider can use his/her own medical certification form or “doctor’s note” to support the employee’s need for FMLA leave, or can we require the HCP to use the...more
It’s the final week of the year, so while everyone else in the world is playing with their latest version of iPhone and other new electronic gadgets, I spend my time analyzing this year’s FMLA blog posts and agonizing over...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act permits employers to require eligible employees to submit medical certification of their need for personal or companionship FMLA leave. Under Department of Labor rules, employees have 15 days...more
Let's put our heads together on this one. You see, it appears as though far too many employees have bought into the notion that their employer is always responsible for the cost of obtaining medical certification to support...more
Thanks to those who attended my webinar last week with Matt Morris on "Conquering the FMLA Medical Certification Process: Best Practices for Employers." We covered a whole host of topics during the webinar: How...more
The DOL is on a roll, and employers can't be amused....more