Unpaid FMLA Leave

[john john]

She no more had medical problems than I have 7 toes.

Dr. NCFL

 

[PITbull]

I understand what is involved having had this occur in my own family, and my mother has worked for hospice as a volunteer home health aide for years.

But where can you make a distinction if you think the person may be abusing it? What if they question staffing levels and if it looks like they're going to have a very busy shift that usually coincides with a call back saying "I'm taking an FMLA day." Or if the holidays where they get a holiday bonus for working (and if they work the entire rest of their shifts that week) suddenly they don't need any days for that period. Not to discount anybody's situation (and sorry if this sounds like hijacking the thread) but these are real issues managers have to deal with.

On another matter, if you have a long term FMLA leave.... what is the legality of the company adjusting your shift so that your absence has lesser impact? We've had another situation where a past employee who was a supervisor (by themself on an overnight shift) had day-to-day FMLA and would frequently excuse themselves from the overnight shift right before it began, usually extending the previous supervisor into a 15 hour marathon. I see it both ways... not fair to impact the employee in a manner that may seem like punishment, but what about the impact to the employee's coworkers?

Jax,

I don't write the laws, I just abide by them...there is nothing that is full proof. The laws are written and passed because somewhere in the equation there was abuse by corporations and nothing protected individuals against employer termination for serious illness. There will be folks who get around any law, or abuse a system that was put in place to protect.

Let's take for example, bankruptcy. We can say the same about BK laws. How can we protect a labor force from Corporate outright abuse of contracts when they decide to pull a bankruptcy to restructure a company? BK laws were put in place to protect corporations, and/or individuals from creditors...and there are those corporations and individuals who have abused the system and have pulled multiple bk knowing full well they were screwing tax payers, shareholders, along with employees. Many laws do not provide an "even playing field", and you just have to continue to push for reform for the sake of "fairness" and equality if you can cite instances were abuse of the law proves unfair.

So far, no employer is able to convince the lawmakers to reform FMLA, so how much cited abuse can there really be except for some inconvenience for the company...

 

[lostplanetairman]

So far, no employer is able to convince the lawmakers to reform FMLA, so how much cited abuse can there really be except for some inconvenience for the company...

Actually, you are wrong--not regarding lawmakers, but regarding rulemakers. The DOL is in the comment period in revising the regulations regarding FMLA and HR professionals and employers are very much involved in giving comments!

Unfortunately, there is a ton of abuse. It is a wonderful law and people have found all the loopholes. We're gonna close them!

HRDiva

 

[Bear96]

So far, no employer is able to convince the lawmakers to reform FMLA, so how much cited abuse can there really be except for some inconvenience for the company...

HR Diva is correct, and you're way off base on this one too. There are about to be major, employee un-friendly changes to the FMLA, because of all the abuse. Administering FMLA is a nightmare for most employers.