This scenario is all too familiar for employers: shortly before Christmas, your employee requests vacation leave for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Due to seniority or the employee’s last-minute request for time off, her leave request is denied. However, like clockwork, she calls off sick and requests FMLA leave on Christmas Eve and NYE,
A Couple Quick Tips to Fight FMLA Abuse Around the Holidays
Have your employees’ absences from work been a bit more frequent lately? And are you tired of the lame excuses they’re providing? After all, there are only so many times your employee’s dog can knock over the Christmas tree….on top of your employee, right?
In this “best of” FMLA post, employers need not settle for
Best Practices for Employers When Administering FMLA Leave: A Recap of our Webinar
Thanks to those who attended my webinar last week with Matt Morris and Tamika Lynch on “FMLA Made Easy: Effectively Managing Difficult FMLA Issues.” As the survey feedback indicated, this webinar was a great opportunity to discuss common issues that arise in the administration of FMLA leave and how employers can best address them.
From
Facebook Pictures of Employee Socializing at Local Festival Drown Her FMLA Claims
Employers and fellow FMLA nerds, consider this an early holiday present: Courts are increasingly dismissing FMLA claims when they find that the employer has an honest belief that the employee has engaged in FMLA fraud.
This is a longer than usual post, but hang with me, as I share some best practices below.
Failing to Follow Call-in Procedures Dooms Employee’s FMLA Claim
Later this week, I am conducting FMLA training for management employees at one of our clients. The training will focus on how the employer can utilize its own current personnel policies to properly administer FMLA leave and combat FMLA abuse. During this training, I am going to tell them about Ritenour v. State of Tennessee
Employer’s ‘Honest Suspicion’ of FMLA Abuse Enough to Dismiss FMLA Claims
had enough of its employees abusing FMLA leave, so it played the ultimate trump card — the Company hired a private investigator to conduct surveillance on 35 employees who were suspected FMLA abusers. One of the 35 was Daryl Scruggs, who served as a brazier (one who torches parts into fan coils) for the Company.
Giants Beat Patriots in the Super Bowl! Can I take FMLA Leave Today?
Monday, February 6, 2012 is a bittersweet day for employers across New York and elsewhere. Just hours earlier, their employees watched the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. For these employers, however, many of their employees won’t be at work Monday morning. The reason? In a 2008 survey conducted by The
Employee Who Abused FMLA Leave Around the Holidays Properly Terminated
Employers often complain that they see an uptick in the use of sick leave and FMLA leave around the holidays. In the case of Southwest Airlines, however, one employee clearly took FMLA misuse a bit too far.
Douglas Rydalch was a reservation sales agent for Southwest. When Southwest closed its reservation center in Salt
Will Employers Soon Use GPS to Catch FMLA Abuse?
Earlier this week, the folks at the Texas Employment Law Update highlighted a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in which the high court will consider whether law enforcement’s placement of a GPS devise on a suspect’s vehicle without a warrant constitutes an unlawful search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. This case led the authors to
Employee’s FMLA Claim Dismissed After Taking a Trip to Cancun
Employees should think twice before setting off on a Cancun vacation while out on FMLA leave. In an FMLA decision that smacks of pure common sense, a federal court has upheld an employer’s reasonable work rules that restricted an employee’s travel outside the immediate vicinity while on FMLA leave. Pellegrino v. CWA (pdf).
The Facts