Welcoming a new child is often a joyous experience. It also can involve challenges that create a need to miss work. Taking an absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act may be an option for some. However, Employers and employees should note that not all pre-birth absences are covered…
Articles Posted in FMLA
What the Law Says About Employees Returning to Work After Their 12 Weeks of FMLA Leave Has Expired
A worker experiencing health difficulties presents challenges for the employee… and her employer. Employers should proceed carefully, ensuring that any potentially adverse actions they take do not run afoul of federal law. A misstep in this regard could harm not just the worker but also the employer’s business if it…
FMLA Rights, Workplace Discipline, and ‘Temporal Proximity’ in Federal Retaliation Cases
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides workers with many important statutory rights, including ones designed to protect employees from inappropriate workplace punishment for exercising their rights, or wrongful denial of benefits. These rights and protections are not unlimited, and they are not a “straitjacket” on employers preventing them from…
The Importance of Proper Documentation — Including Medical Certification — in the FMLA Leave Process
Whether you are a worker who needs to take time off from work or an employer, it is well worth your while to become familiar with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and its rights and obligations. The FMLA offers essential rights to certain employees, but those rights are…
Firing a Worker on FMLA Leave and the Law of FMLA Retaliation
Sometimes, a worker’s requesting or taking Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will cause an unethical employer to fire that employee wrongfully. Other times, though, a legally compliant employer legitimately needs to fire an employee on FMLA leave. Whether you are an employee caught in the former scenario or an…
The Price of Non-Compliance: An Automaker in Alabama to Pay $438K for Engaging in Illegal FMLA Retaliation
The Family and Medical Leave Act grants substantial rights to workers and has the potential to impose significant penalties on employers who fail to comply with the law, as an employer in neighboring Alabama found out recently. Given how costly a violation can be (either to you as an employer…
FMLA Interference Claims and the Importance of Accurate FMLA-Related Administration and Recordkeeping
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) creates several responsibilities for employers, not the least of which is proper FMLA-related recordkeeping. The law allows employers to use a rolling 12-month period to assess an employee’s entitlement to leave. That allowance, however, means that the employer must accurately monitor and record…
What’s Required to Prove FMLA Retaliation in Federal Court in Georgia
Whether you’re an employee or an employer, it is important to understand the rights and responsibilities set out in the Family and Medical Leave Act. It is also vital to know what you have to prove (as a worker) or disprove (as an employer) in a case of illegal retaliation…
FMLA Leave, Interference Claims, and When the Law Does (and Doesn’t) Require Employers to Give Workers Notice of Their FMLA Rights and Responsibilities
The Family and Medical Leave Act provides several rights and imposes several responsibilities on employees and employers alike. It is important to be keenly cognizant of these rights and responsibilities, as failure to do so can be extremely costly. If you have questions about your FMLA rights and/or responsibilities, don’t…
The Importance of Following Your Employer’s ‘Usual and Customary’ Procedures for Requesting FMLA Leave
The law imposes on employers numerous requirements when it comes to the Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers would be wise to ensure they have established clear procedures for allowing workers to seek leave, and then carefully document those requests. Workers, similarly, should take care to follow their employers’ established…