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Jeff Nowak is a shareholder at Littler Mendelson P.C., the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management.  Jeff represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law, but his passion is the FMLA -- he eats, drinks and sleeps all things FMLA!

Q: Our employee is trying to support his need for FMLA leave with medical certification from an online health care provider. Is this valid under the FMLA?  And What if It’s a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor? 

A: Tackling the online doctor issue first, my knee-jerk reaction is NO WAY! After all, the FMLA regulations make

images.jpgDear fellow FMLA nerds:

Can I get your vote?  What if I promised that it would only take 30 seconds out of your day, or less than the time it would take to read one of my rambling blog posts?

Last year, for the 5th consecutive year, our little FMLA blog was named one of

ConfusedThere is a hot debate brewing over the tantalizing question, “Does a request for FMLA leave also constitute a request for a reasonable accommodation under the ADA?” The worlds of FMLA and ADA clash!

Surely, this question ranks up there with life’s unanswered questions.  You know, questions like: When does it stop being partly cloudy

Frank, your night custodian, reports that he suffers from Crohn’s disease, a chronic condition that will cause him to miss work when the condition flares up from time to time, including his absence yesterday. Cleaning floors causes him a great deal of stress, which in turn exacerbates his medical condition, and yesterday was one of

absent-workersThanks again to those who attended my June 23 webinar with EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum on the topic of “leave” as an ADA reasonable accommodation in light of the EEOC’s new technical resource issued on this topic in early May 2016.

This is the second part of a two-part blog post in which I recap

eeocLast Thursday, I had the pleasure of conducting a webinar with EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum on the topic of “leave” as an ADA reasonable accommodation in light of the EEOC’s new technical resource issued on this topic in early May 2016. If you missed the program, you can access the webinar materials here. In

paid sick daysThis past week, paid sick leave legislation that is about to become law in Chicago.  It’s significant because it reflects a growing number of states and cities joining the mandated paid leave bandwagon.

Because the impending law will affect all of your operations located in Chicago, I provide analysis here:

Last week, Chicago became poised

EEOC-bannerFor years, employers across America have been clamoring for guidance from the EEOC about how they should manage an employee’s request for extended or intermittent leave from work and how much leave is considered as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. This week, employers received an answer.

Well, kind of.

Yesterday, the EEOC issued a