Q. One of our employees is adopting a 5-year-old Ethiopian child and has asked for leave to travel to complete the adoption and bond with the child when they return to...
Some employers believe that pregnant women aren’t entitled to time off for pregnancy-related matters because pregnant women aren’t disabled or unable to...
Short staffing makes management difficult. When an employee is out on medical leave, others have to pick up the slack. Still, remind supervisors that they can’t...
Q. Do we always have to allow intermittent FMLA leave for cancer treatments (e.g., chemo and radiation)? The employee is capable of working and says the treatments are...
Q. An employee asked to take 12 weeks of FMLA leave this summer because her kindergarten-age child will be out of school. She says her child is special-needs and...
The FMLA is a complicated law that can trip up even the most experienced HR professional. And sometimes it may not be apparent that an employee didn’t get the...
It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the content is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by getting employees to agree to...
When deciding whether a person has a health condition that qualifies for FMLA leave, employers sometimes mistakenly focus only on the provision that defines...
Employees can take job-protected FMLA leave for "serious health conditions." But take note: Cosmetic surgery only counts as a serious condition in very rare cases ...
Q. An employee seeking FMLA leave presented medical certification from her doctor that stated that her medical condition didn’t prevent her from performing the...
Employees are protected against retaliation for taking FMLA leave. Disciplining an employee who has just returned from such leave is risky, especially if you...
Q. One of our employees has a sick parent who lives in another country. She wants FMLA leave to care for the parent. Is FMLA available under the circumstances? And how...
Before you decide to videotape someone whom you suspect may be abusing FMLA leave, make sure you have a good-faith reason to do so. And be prepared to show that...
Elective surgery that isn’t medically necessary may not be eligible for FMLA leave because the employee having the procedure may not be suffering from a serious...
As FMLA administration grows more complex, more employers are using software to track it. Most of the time that works fine. But as one employer recently found out, FMLA...
Lots of employers have no-fault attendance policies, which allow a certain number of unexcused absences without any documentation and then punish employees who go...
Believe it or not, some employees are under the impression they can use FMLA leave during the summer months to care for their minor children instead of sending them to...
A good sick leave policy includes rules governing how employees are supposed to let their employers know that they’re ill. Employees generally have to follow...
Employers can use no-fault attendance policies as a way to control absenteeism. There’s no doubt about the effectiveness of no-fault programs, which allow a...
