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
In this opening weekend of major league baseball, hope springs eternal for every baseball fan. In honor of my beloved Chicago White Sox, I offer an FMLA lineup card below that from top to bottom will help employers stay atop the pennant race throughout the year.
[First, feel free to play the National Anthem if you so desire…]
From the Leadoff Hitter to the end of the lineup, here are my FMLA All Stars:Continue Reading Play Ball! An FMLA Lineup That Keeps You in the Pennant Race
Over the upcoming weeks, when Carl the Custodian is missing from your workplace, you may want to give your local Hooters Restaurant a call. He just might be there watching the NCAA tournament.
Hooters has unveiled a marvelous marketing ploy to get customers through their doors during the NCAA tournament — the Company is offering doctor’s
This morning, the sound of the morning alarm was harsh reality for scores of employees throughout Wisconsin. After celebrating a Packers Super Bowl victory late into the night (a bitter pill for this Bears fan to swallow!), they have no interest in dragging themselves out of bed and heading into work. For employers, you need not be located in Wisconsin to suffer the effects of the Super Bowl. Case in point — I was talking with an HR professional (located outside of WI.) last week who was not looking forward to the day after Super Bowl Sunday, when she spends much of her day processing leave of absence requests — nearly all of which come from employees who called off right before the Monday morning shift started.
Some of the employees have fairly legitimate reasons for their absences (“My son, Johnnie, ate Aunt Erma’s chili last night and he can’t keep anything down this morning); others phone in ambiguous reasons such as, “I am taking FMLA again today,” or “Remember that thing I was dealing with three weeks ago … well, it’s acting up again.”
For HR professionals, the employer response to these phone calls is one of the most difficult they face: Do I count this as an ordinary sick day? Do I ask for more information? Can I ask for more information? What precise “thing” is “acting up” again? Does this information trigger FMLA leave?
What can an employer do to obtain more information from the employee in these situations?Continue Reading Suffering from Super Bowl-Induced FMLA Leave?
(the county in which Chicago is located) currently faces one of the largest budget deficits in its government’s history. So, when the Cook County Board president (Toni Preckwinkle) tells the County Sheriff (Tom Dart) to cut $70 million from his budget, it tends to grab people’s attention. In this story, however, this proposed budget cut took a back seat to a notable statistic that grabbed the headlines: one out of every five employees in the sheriff’s office takes FMLA leave on any given workday. At the Cook County Jail, it’s one in four, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
Before you are left aghast at these figures, allow me to point out a sad fact: the Cook County Sheriff is not alone. In my experience, I find all too many employers that suffer through FMLA absenteeism percentages well above the single digits. In fact, a new client shared with me that as much as 30% of its workforce is absent on any given workday, the far majority of which is FMLA-related.
When I hear of FMLA absenteeism figures as high as these, one thing is abundantly clear: FMLA abuse is rampant in that workplace. Fortunately for employers in this situation, there are several tools available to turn the tide and take back your workplace.Continue Reading As FMLA Absences Mount, the Employer Must Lay Down the Law
Join over 500 people who already have signed up for our complimentary FMLA Webinar, which will take place next Wednesday, September 29 from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. CDT. The Webinar will address a common issue that has plagued too many HR professionals — employee abuse of FMLA leave. We will identify the most
A couple weeks ago, as I was preparing a witness for his deposition (in a Title VII and FMLA case), it dawned on both of us that his deposition would take place mere hours after the deciding Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Upon this realization, his face grew a bit pale, and he began wondering out loud whether he would be in the best shape for a deposition the day after a Chicago Blackhawks victory. [Insert here: visions of a late night at the local pub.]
No worries — both my client and the Blackhawks came out on top. However, the more I considered the above exchange, the more I wondered whether this scenario raises a common issue for employers as they administer FMLA leave — Do major sporting events, such as the Stanley Cup and ongoing World Cup, invite widespread abuse of FMLA leave?Continue Reading He Shoots . . . and Misses! Does the World Cup Invite FMLA Abuse?