FMLA Insights - Guidance & Solutions for Employers

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). ... More

For employers, it pays to listen closely to the reason for which an employee requests time off, since the reason may not always be covered by the FMLA.  Kind of like occasions when the employee tells you he needs time off to clean his mother's flooded basement. Take Joe Lane, a medical technologist for Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital.  Joe, who lived with his mother, sought and was granted FMLA intermittent FMLA leave for six months to care for his mom, who suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, weight loss and arthritis.  He needed leave from time to time to provide her... More