To establish a claim of interference with rights under the FMLA, an employee must ordinarily demonstrate that he or she was entitled to FMLA leave. However, a recent decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals confirms that by affirmatively telling an employee that her leave is protected by the FMLA, an employer may waive its right to contest the employee's entitlement to leave. Murphy v. FedEx National LTL, Inc. (.pdf).
The medical certification is perhaps the employer's most important tool for managing FMLA leave. Unfortunately, many employers simply don't use the certification process, or don't use it properly. In this podcast, we discuss why medical certifications are important, when and how to request them, and what to do when an employee fails to return a complete and sufficient certification within the allotted time.
Q: I have reason to believe that a former employee is going to file a complaint with the Department of Labor. What should I do?
A: Review your files and start getting ready to respond to requests for information.
Q: An employee has asked for intermittent FMLA leave due to a serious health condition. He has turned in a medical certification, but the doctor who signed it is his general practitioner, not a specialist in the condition for which he is seeking leave. Can I ask for a second opinion?
A: Yes, but be sure you understand the procedure.
The Illinois Family Military Leave Act allows eligible employees who are the spouse or parent of a person called to military service to take unpaid leave during the family member's military service. Under the law, employees who work for an employer with more than 50 employees may take up to 30 days of leave. Employees working for employers with 15 to 50 employees can take up to 15 days of family military leave. Presently, this leave is in addition to the family military leave leave available under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
A new law recently signed by Governor Quinn amends the Family Military Leave Act to extend leave to children and grandparents of service members as well as spouses or parents. However, if an employee also uses "qualifying exigency" leave under the FMLA, the amount of leave available under the Illinois law will be reduced by the number of days the employee takes under the FMLA.
The amendment takes effect January 1, 2011.
Q: An employee has advised that she needs to take leave for cosmetic surgery. Do I have to grant the leave?
A: It depends on the procedure.
Is the fifth time the charm? On July 30, 2010, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin introduced the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act, which would broaden the Family and Medical Leave Act to permit leave to care for a same-sex spouse, domestic partner, parent-in-law, adult child, sibling, or grandparent who has a serious health condition. S.B. 3680 (pdf) is nearly identical to H.B. 2132, which has been pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, and that (based on our count) has been introduced in the House on four occasions. What's notable about S.B. 3680, of course, is that it now is on track to be considered by the Senate for the first time.
Does this signal renewed support for a fairly drastic expansion of the FMLA (i.e., extension of eligiblity to domestic partners, adult children, siblings and grandparents)? Too soon to tell, given that Sen. Durbin is the only Senate sponsor right now. However, the Senator claims to have momentum on his side. In remarks introducing the legislation and citing the Human Rights Campaign, Senator Durbin suggested (pdf) that federally mandated family and medical leave protections keep up with 461 major American corporations, nine states, and the District of Columbia, all of which currently provide varying levels of FMLA benefits to same-sex partners.
The FMLA Inclusion Act is one of several bills pending in Congress that would further expand the FMLA. Despite the number, none has been able to gain any momentum in the 111th Congress.
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