Thanks to those who attended my webinar last week with Matt Morris on “Six Ways Your Managers Are Causing FMLA & ADA Leave Lawsuits, and How to Train Them to Stop.” A link to the recording can be accessed here (just requires providing some basic info about you) and the presentation PowerPoint can be downloaded here.

To those who attended, thank you.  To those who missed it, you still have time to access the recording.  As promised, Matt and I provided a road map of all the necessary issues to address in an FMLA training session, including case studies you can use with your managers.

In this session, we provided you material to train your managers in six key compliance areas:

  • The Space Case: The manager who should have known the employee put the manager on notice of the need for FMLA leave, but failed to do anything about it.  In most training sessions, you will spend most of your time here, since you want your managers to be able to recognize when an employee may need a leave of absence for a medical condition and what they should do with this information.
  • The Lazybones:  The manager who knew the employee needed a medical leave of absence, but failed to direct the employee’s request to the proper channels.  As a result, the employer fell out of compliance and risked FMLA liability.
  • The Head Stuck in the Book:  The manager who fails to recognize patterns of FMLA abuse, such as Monday/Friday absences, absences in conjunction with holidays, and when managers learn of information indicating that the employee is misusing FMLA leave.
  • The Oversharer:  The manager who responds inappropriately to an FMLA leave request, such as telling the employee “it’s not a good time to take leave,” or making a snide comment about an employee’s leave of absence in an email.
  • The Badgerer: The manager who requires an employee to perform substantive work while on FMLA leave or keeps bugging an employee when they should not be working while on FMLA leave.
  • The Troublemaker: The manager who tainted the termination decision by injecting his discriminatory tendencies into the decision-making.

Of course, we ended with a holiday jingle. So, I leave you with my warm regards for a Happy Holiday and peaceful New Year, and the lyrics to the holiday song “Oh Rest Ye Bumbling Managers” which we sung to the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by the Bare Naked Ladies (a version which you can listen to or skip on the recording!):

I hired a volatile manager, his name was Ross 

He’s always on a power trip, people call him “The Boss”

He tends to fire those with da gout or chronic IBS

Oh tidings of FMLA . . . FMLA . . . Oh tidings of FMLA

* * *

Ross told his secretary “It’s a bad time for medical leave”

Then he gave her a parting gift, a book called “No More Hysterectomy”

I’m worried what next slur he’ll use at our 3pm meeting

Oh tidings of FMLA . . . FMLA . . . Oh tidings of FMLA

* * *

This law is a wonder, this law is chore

It makes me scared to hire employees anymore

But if I don’t train (or fire) Ross, come tomorrow

I will find the DOL at my front door!

* * *

Thanks again to those who attended the webinar. I look forward to your feedback on the issues we discussed.

Happy Holidays!

It’s the end of the year, which means bonus time.

Or perhaps instead you want to offer a pay incentive to employees to improve attendance or production?  Take, for instance, a point-based attendance bonus policy in which employees are assessed points for every tardiness or absence (even for FMLA or ADA-covered leave), which, in turn, disqualifies an employee from receiving the incentive.

In these situations, can an employer disqualify an employee from the bonus or incentive?

In short, Yes.

The FMLA regulations provide in relevant part:

. . . if a bonus or other payment is based on the achievement of a specified goal such as hours worked, products sold or perfect attendance, and the employee has not met the goal due to FMLA leave, then the payment may be denied, unless otherwise paid to employees on an equivalent leave status for a reason that does not qualify as FMLA leave.  For example, if an employee who used paid vacation leave for a non-FMLA purpose would receive the payment, then the employee who used paid vacation leave for an FMLA-protected purpose also must receive the payment.

29 C.F.R. § 825.215(c)(2) (my emphasis and bold).  When qualifying employees for and/or calculating bonus payments or incentives, employers must treat employees who take FMLA leave the same as those who are on “an equivalent leave status for a reason that does not qualify as FMLA leave.” So, bottom line, if you deny bonuses and incentives to those on other, similar forms of leave — such as absences related to jury duty leave, military leave to ADA leave — you can deny the same bonus to the employee who took FMLA leave.

But what about unconditional pay increases automatically given to employees? That’s a different story. When increases such as a cost of living increase are provided to all employees without any condition attached, an employee who has taken FMLA leave is entitled to the same increase.

Other Holiday Pay Issues

What about other FMLA issues you face around the holidays, such as holiday pay during FMLA leave, calculating FMLA during the holidays, and dealing with an employee who plays hooky during the holidays?  See my other posts on these issues below:

When: Wednesday, December 12 (12:00 – 1:15 p.m. central time)

Online registration: Click Here

Over the past year alone, employers have been forced to defend FMLA and ADA lawsuits due simply to an inappropriate comment from a manager after an employee requests time off or an accommodation in the workplace.

A snide comment about an employee in an email . . . Discussing an employee’s medical condition with others in a meeting . . . Telling an employee that the Company “can’t afford” for him to take time off.  Despite an employer’s best policies (and intentions), all it takes is a new or untrained manager to cause an FMLA or ADA-related lawsuit.

In what has become my annual FMLA mega webinar, I will be joined again by my friend, Matt Morris, VP of FMLASource, for “Six Ways Your Managers are Causing FMLA & ADA Lawsuits, and How to Train Them to Stop.” This webinar will be held on December 12 at 12 noon CST.

Our complimentary webinar will use a case-study format to show how your managers undermine otherwise compliant corporate policies and HR practices. More importantly, we then will give you the content to create your very own FMLA and ADA training program. Yep, you read that correctly. We will give you the content to create your own training program.

And we’re doing it for free.  [We’re not very smart business people, are we?]

In this session, Matt and I will focus on:

  • How managers are increasingly undermining an employer’s defense of an FMLA and ADA lawsuit, and how to identify the risk factors
  • Where to look for the most common pitfalls in how managers handle FMLA and ADA leave – through in-depth discussion of scenarios and related cases
  • Constructive methods you can use to train managers in the process of both FMLA and ADA leaves. Did I mentioned that we will provide much of the actual content you should use in your FMLA and ADA training sessions? Ahem, yes, we will.

And I just may sing you a song before it’s over.

This program has been submitted to the HR Certification Institute and SHRM for review and credit. Continuing Legal Education credit also will be available to attorneys attending the program. For attorneys in states other than Illinois, we will provide proof of attendance, but CLE credit will be governed by your particular state’s rules.

Not sure where you stand on this, but I’m always game for a good employer smack down on FMLA abuse.

This smack down comes courtesy of the City of Chicago.

You know, the City of Big Shoulders, the Second City (to no one), the Windy City [little known fact: the nickname “Windy City” comes not from the cold winds that blow off Lake Michigan but from the City’s “windy” politicians. No joke.].

I digress.

Picture a 911 call center deep in the City of Chicago. Pretty busy, yes? And like many other call centers, this 911 call center has plenty of employees who take FMLA leave.

In fact, two years ago, nearly 50 percent of the center’s call takers were on some type of absence tied to the FMLA.

Imagine if on any given workday, 50 percent of your work force was absent on FMLA leave.

Could you run a business? Let that sink in for a second.

Fast forward to today, when the call center’s executive director reported this past week that the call center has reduced FMLA use by 4,000 hours, reduced absenteeism by over 900 shifts and lowered overtime costs by nearly $1 million.

Ahem, nearly $1 million in reduced overtime costs.  

How did the City of Chicago do it? According to the call center’s top dog, the City has used several critical tools to reduce FMLA abuse:

  • Conducted FMLA training for all managers so they understand their role in the FMLA process and how to interact with employees requesting leave
  • Empowered managers to ask their employees questions about their leave “without fear”
  • Initiated meetings with employees when they recognized a pattern of absenteeism, such as Friday/Monday call offs, or call offs in conjunction with a holiday or sporting event
  • Those who have abused FMLA leave have been shown the door. Lawfully. Shown. The. Door.

Insights for Employers

The City’s outstanding work to reduce FMLA abuse is a call to action for the rest of us. In previous posts, I have droned on ad nauseam about all the tools available to crack down on FMLA abuse.  Some of my favorite blog posts on this topic are here and here.

But let me hone in on how you can specifically follow the City of Chicago’s lead to reduce FMLA abuse in your own workplace:

  1. Train your managers so they are empowered to help you address misuse of FMLA leave. Employers often are reluctant to engage their managers about the FMLA or to include them in the FMLA process. This is understandable, as managers can create liability by what they say or do. However, they are your gatekeepers, and if properly trained, they can be incredibly effective as FMLA abuse busters, since they are your eyes and ears among your rank and file.
  2. Ask questions “without fear.”  When your employees call off work, they should be required at a minimum to explain the reason for their absence and when they expect to return to work. If they offer even a hint of a medical condition as the reason for their absence, the properly trained manager (or properly trained leave administrator) should ask follow-up questions to determine whether the absence may be covered by FMLA. What are those questions? See Tip #2 in my previous post.
  3. Meet with the employee to set expectations as to reporting their absences. Several of my clients do this, and I am a big fan. Here, after FMLA has been approved, the employer (whether the manager or HR rep) meets with the employee to remind him/her about call-in requirements, what information they are expected to provide when they call in, and the consequences for failing to follow the call-in policy or providing medical information when requested by the employer.
  4. Meet again with the employee where you observe patterns of suspected abuse. When a leave request or use of leave seems fishy, don’t ignore it. Be candid with your employee about it and ask questions about the circumstances so you can, in turn, determine whether you have a right to be concerned.  Chicago’s call center executive put it this way:

Once we see a trend, we sit down with the employee and let them know we’re seeing a trend. Is there something behind that? We like to look at our employees holistically — not just the time they’re at work. Maybe there’s something that causes that trend. And where we see clear cases of abuses, we are recommending them to be fired and put on the do-not-hire list.

Hats off to the City of Chicago for clamping down on FMLA abuse and providing some practical steps the rest of us can put in place to do the same!

Q: We have an employee who recently had a child placed with her for foster care. (It is her niece.) She wants to take eight weeks of FMLA leave to bond with the foster child, but wants to know if she can take an additional eight weeks of FMLA leave when she adopts the child. She anticipates that the adoption likely will occur sometime next year.

A. My head is spinning, as there are a couple of potential issues here.  First, is this an actual foster “placement,” since it’s an aunt and niece relationship?  Second, when can an employee take FMLA leave for foster care?  And finally, can an employee obtain more than 12 weeks of FMLA leave if they are fostering first and then adopting a child?

So many issues. I answer them, in turn, below.

Is This Even Foster Care?

The reference to a “niece” in the question above has me wondering whether a foster care relationship even exists. Simply because an aunt or family member takes in another family member does not mean we have a foster care situation.  Under the FMLA, foster care is defined as:

  1. 24‑hour care for children in substitution for, and away from, their parents or guardian; and
  2. The placement into foster care involves state action, voluntary or involuntary removal of the child from the parents or guardian, and an agreement between the State and foster family that the foster family will take care of the child. 29 CFR 825.122(g)

So, foster care = 24-hour care plus involvement of the State.

That’s not to say that foster care must be a permanent arrangement. In fact, there is a good chance it won’t involve a long-term arrangement; yet, it still enjoys the protection of the FMLA.  The Department of Labor said as much in one of its earliest opinion letters:

Neither the statute nor implementing regulations imposes a minimum period of time or permanency in connection with a foster care placement for FMLA leave purposes. So long as the placement is the result of a foster care agreement between the foster parents and the state, leave to care for the newly placed foster child would be considered FMLA leave

When Can an Employee Take FMLA Leave for Foster Care?

Clearly, an eligible employee can take FMLA leave to bond with their foster child upon placement.

Keep in mind, though, that the employee also can take FMLA leave before the actual placement if an absence from work is required for the placement for foster care to proceed. As the regulations note, the employee “may be required to attend counseling sessions, appear in court, consult with his or her attorney or the doctor(s) representing the birth parent, submit to a physical examination, or travel to another country to complete an adoption.” 29 CFR 825.121(a)(1)

Is the Employee Entitled to 12 Weeks for Foster Care Placement and Another 12 weeks Should They Adopt the Child?

In short, no. The FMLA regulations clearly state that an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement is limited to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period for the “placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care, and to care for the newly placed child” (emphasis added). 29 CFR 825.200(a)

Another DOL opinion letter notes that this regulation is based on legislative history, which emphasizes that FMLA leave is available to care for a “child newly placed with the employee for adoption or foster care.” Senate Report No. 103-3, p.24.

Both the regulation and legislative history indicate that only the initial date of placement with a family triggers the right to leave. Therefore, the niece in this instance would be “newly placed” at the time of the foster care placement rather than when any subsequent adoption occurs.

No two bites at the apple on this one. The employee must complete 12 weeks of FMLA leave within the first 12 months of placement for foster care, and that’s all she’s entitled to.

 

 

 

 

two calls

I conducted FMLA training this week for a client making fairly significant changes to the manner it administers FMLA leave. They not only are educating managers about their role and responsibilities under the FMLA, but empowering them to play a key role in reducing FMLA abuse.

My client also is making one key change (among others) as part of their FMLA intake process: it’s requiring employees to make two calls whenever they want to request FMLA leave — one call to their direct supervisor prior to their shift, and an additional call to their leave management department to report the need for FMLA leave.

Genius.

It got me thinking: why don’t all – or at least far more – employers implement this type of dual reporting policy? After all, this approach is perfectly legal and makes complete sense if you have the resources to pull it off.  If an employee calls off work, they already are required to call their supervisor so that the shift can be covered. However, if they also want the FMLA to apply to this absence, they are required to call a second number.  This second call can be required to another employer intake line or a third-party administrator handling calls on the employer’s behalf.

If the employee does not make the second call, the leave is not covered by the FMLA, and therefore, it is unexcused. Clients who have followed this approach often find that a two call approach reduces FMLA abuse. It also is great protection against FMLA litigation, since a number of courts have upheld this approach in the past couple years alone:

  • Barnes v. Spirit Aerosystems, Inc. (10th Cir. 2013).  FMLA claim dismissed because the employee failed to follow the employer’s dual reporting call-in procedures.  Although he called the employer’s attendance line, he failed to request FMLA leave from the Company’s Benefits Center.  This resulted in an unexcused absence instead of an absence categorized as FMLA leave.
  • Perry v. Am. Red Cross Blood Servs. (6th Cir. 2016).  Upholding dismissal of FMLA claim where the plaintiff did not call into the employer and the third party administrator.
  • Norton v. LTCH, (6th Cir. 2015). The company’s policies required that employees on intermittent leave call an FMLA Leave Contact Center before each qualifying absence in addition to a normal call-in procedure.  Because the plaintiff failed to make two calls, it doomed his FMLA claim.
  • Szostek v. Drexel University, (3rd Cir. 2015).  The employer required that employees notify both the employer and its third-party FMLA administrator of absences for which employees sought FMLA protection.  Plaintiff notified the employer, but not the TPA, of such FMLA-related absences; therefore, they were not protected by the FMLA.

Nuff said. Find yourself an employment attorney and implement this process change now.

That is, unless you are particularly fond of FMLA abuse.

File this in the “Managers really can be idiots” folder.

Kameisha applied for a job at Jersey Mike’s Subs (which by the way, makes an incredible #13 Original Italian sub). At the time she interviewed for a position, Kameisha was four months pregnant. Fearing she would not get the job if she revealed her pregnancy, Kameisha chose not to inform the manager, Marcos, of her exciting personal news during the interview.

As the story goes, she got the job, and after putting in a few days’ work, Kameisha informed Marcos that she was pregnant.  She also made clear that she needed her job to take care of herself and her new baby.  In other words, she was dedicated to the Jersey Mike’s cause.

Marcos responded by text, and here’s what he said:

Hello, I’m sorry to inform you but it’s not going to workout with Jersey Mikes. It’s not a good time for us to have someone who is leaving for maternity leave in several months anyways. You also failed to tell me this during our interview. Good luck to [you].

What in the holy hell?

According to a local news station, Marcos resigned his employment. Although she’s been offered her old job back, Kameisha declined. But after posting the text message on Facebook, she’s made it clear she plans to sue.

Ouch. Would you blame her for doing so?

Insights for Employers

There are plenty of lessons here for employers.

1.  The Interview. The text is awful, god awful. The sentiment behind it even worse. But let me start with the manager’s comment, “You also failed to tell me [of your pregnancy] during our interview.” I hear this from time to time from clients who are peeved after extending an offer to a candidate who shortly thereafter informs my client that she’s pregnant.

Why don’t they just come clean during the interview, my clients want to know.

Well, I tell them, because they’re worried about guys like Marcos. 

I wish this were a world where candidates could disclose their pregnancies during the interview process so that both sides could have a meaningful, supportive conversation about how the pregnancy and time off after childbirth will be accommodated and this joyous occasion celebrated. But this ain’t Utopia. Sadly, there are some managers like Marcos out there who ruin it for the rest of us.

Marcos’ reaction about the interview is a guide for us. The candidate has no obligation to tell us she’s pregnant, nor are we allowed to ask. For good reason. So, don’t hold it against her when she later informs you of her pregnancy. Respond with joy and support. Take it a step further and share how excited you were when you had your first child and what a blessing it was in your life. In the moment, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, too. Then, work hard to figure out how you will accommodate the maternity leave, not simply because oodles of states now require it, but because you’re a good boss.

As a result, I’m willing to bet more times than not this employee will go to the wall for you to make the best damn #13 Italian original sub your customers have ever tasted.

2.  Employees Should Have a Clear Path to Complain.  My friend, Jon Hyman, who beat me to the punch in blogging about this incident on his fabulous employment blog, argues that more training isn’t necessarily the answer here.  Jon’s point:

If a manager does not know that you can’t fire a woman because she’s pregnant, no amount of training in the world is going to help that manager not discriminate.

Just as important, Jon argues, is that employees should have a clear path to complain about incidents like these. When they don’t, they resort to posting this kind of stuff on Facebook. This makes sense. During employee orientation and regularly thereafter, employers must put front and center its stand against workplace discrimination and harassment, ensure employees know precisely how to report discrimination or harassment internally, and then back this up with a quick and effective response to their report.

3.  Training Still is Important. I agree with Jon that “training won’t fix stupid.” But don’t throw training out the window. Please, please, please train your employees on how to effectively and lawfully respond to an employee informing you of a pregnancy or for a leave of absence for a medical reason. Included in this training, of course, should include as stern a warning possible against any comments of the kind above. Train them on how they interact with employees in precisely these situations (use role play!) so they understand your expectations, despite some of their wayward tendencies. Investing a couple hundred bucks now to conduct effective training will maximize your chances of saving tens of thousands when the real life Jersey Mike’s situation presents itself.

4.  Don’t terminate any employee by sending them a freaking text message! Need I actually explain this? [Waits a moment . . . ] Ok, good, glad you understand. (Hat tip: Stuart Silverman)

Those sneaky little rascals! While the rest of us were enjoying our Labor Day holiday, those crazy kids over at the Department of Labor were still working away. Bless their little hearts! This time, they were busy posting new model FMLA notices and medical certification forms.

Expiration: August 31, 2021.

No more month-to-month extensions or lost sleep over when the long-awaited forms would be released. Now, we can rest easy through summer 2021. Relief.

That said, it couldn’t have taken DOL a whole lot of time to draft the updated forms. There’s nothing new, other than the new expiration date. Nevertheless, use these templates moving forward. For easy reference, here are the links to the new FMLA notices and forms:

Notices

Certification forms

The notices/forms also can be accessed from this DOL web page.

Parental leave policies are on the rise.

Maternity. Paternity. Caregiver. You name it. I am drafting more of these policies than ever before.

So, you can imagine my interest when, last year, the EEOC sued skin care/fragrance behemoth Estée Lauder, claiming that its parental leave policies discriminated against men. According to the EEOC at the time, Estée Lauder provided eligible new mothers six weeks of paid parental leave for child bonding (in addition to leave for recovery for childbirth), but only offered new fathers two weeks of paid bonding leave.  The Company also apparently provided  flexible return-to-work benefits to moms that were not offered to dads.

In unison, new dads across America booed and hissed loudly [of course, while we spritzed on our “Lauder for men” cologne].

A New Era at Estée Lauder

I never have been able to get my hands on that elusive Estée Lauder parental leave policy. So, I have no idea whether its policy effectively discriminated against men (as EEOC claims) with respect to bonding leave and other benefits.

But after reading my good friend Marti Cardi‘s blog post, I now know that Estée Lauder has settled the infamous EEOC lawsuit for a $1.1 million payment to a class of dads and a consent decree that requires the Company to avoid treating dads in a discriminatory manner.

In defense of Estée Lauder, it’s important to note that the Company announced earlier this year that it would significantly sweeten its parental leave benefits for both women and men who regularly work 30 hours per week.  According to a Business Insider report (as reported by HR Dive), the Company now offers:

  • Six to eight weeks to moms for recovery from childbirth
  • An additional 20 weeks of paid leave for bonding (available to moms and dads)
  • $10,000 toward adoption expenses
  • A back-to-work transition program (regardless of gender or sexual orientation)

The company reportedly will also continue to offer $20,000 toward fertility treatments and in-home child care and elder care at reduced rates.

That’s a pretty fabulous parental leave policy, says me, the father four times over.

Insights for Employers

Are you thinking of creating your own parental leave policy?  Or sweetening benefits in a leave policy you currently offer your employees?  Here are a few nuggets you might consider to ensure your parental leave policies are up to snuff:

  • You choose Eligibility Requirements, not some Federal agency. Employers have the right to set eligibility for parental leave benefits. You are not obligated to provide these benefits on day one of employment. (Estée Lauder, for example, requires at least three months’ service time, and other employers often require up to 12 months of service).  Clearly, you can require some period of service before accrual, as you likely do with other employment benefits.
  • Moms vs. Dads. You can treat women who give birth better than men. Really, you can. And you should. After a woman has carried a child in the womb for nine months, endured the painful throes of childbirth, and now needs time to recover, doesn’t it make sense that she deserves more time off after childbirth than, say, the guy holding her hand during the delivery? Me thinks so, too. Based on its June 2015 pregnancy discrimination guidance, the EEOC agrees.  (See example 14 in the guidance.)
  • But let’s not get too crazy about Moms vs. Dads. Although the EEOC makes clear that you can treat mom better to allow her to recover from childbirth, employers cannot treat the sexes differently when it comes to bonding leave. [Ahem, just ask Estée Lauder.] In its pregnancy discrimination guidance, the EEOC makes clear:

“for purposes of determining Title VII’s requirements, employers should carefully distinguish between leave related to any physical limitations imposed by pregnancy or childbirth . . . and leave for purposes of bonding with a child and/or providing care for a child.”

If you provide paid parental leave to female employees for bonding with a newborn, as opposed to leave provided as a result of pregnancy-related conditions (e.g., pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), it must provide the same leave to men or risk a gender discrimination claim. The logic behind the EEOC’s position is clear—dads need lovin’ too.

This is the takeaway of the Estée Lauder case.  Let me be clear: when it comes to bonding leave, you cannot treat men differently from women. If you currently take this approach, change it now.

  • Parents getting busy don’t get extra! Might you want to consider a provision that limits benefits in the event of multiple births or adoptions in the same 12-month period?  Crazier things have happened, and you have every legal right to limit the benefit over a period of time.
  • Exhausting other paid leave prior to parental leave is legal. Employers can require employees to use vacation/sick/PTO benefits before collecting parental leave pay.  The same could be said for maternity leave benefits, as long as you maintain the same requirement for employees absent for other types of medical conditions.  That said, consider employee morale here and think about allowing employees to hold back a few of their accrued paid leave days so they can use them later in the year (again, all in the name of work/life balance).
  • Run FMLA leave concurrently with parental leave. Just do it. You have a legal right to do so. ‘Nuff said.  If you don’t do this, you might just start wondering why your employees are away from work more than they’re at work.
  • Primary vs. secondary caregiver provisions are not for the faint of heart. Ay de mi! The plot thickens! I am convinced oodles of HR professionals attended a SHRM conference a few years back in which some charming presenter encouraged them to draft parental leave policies providing leave for the “primary” vs. “secondary” caregiver in the family. And now, we’ve created a mess. Technically, these provisions are fine, but they surely can be a challenge to administer. So you have an employee sign a document acknowledging that they are the “primary” caregiver so they can get more leave. Whoa – sign me up, along with every other individual you employ.  Note: Draft primary vs. secondary care giver at your own risk (and only after you consulted an employment attorney).

It’s 82° and sunny today in Chicago. I’ve got my feet up and I’m feeling the warmth of the summer sun on my face. We live for these days here, since in the blink of an eye, it will be December, 20° and snowing.

When it’s 82/sunny outside and we’re headed toward a weekend, employees find it hard to work.

With the increase in summertime temps comes an increase in FMLA abuse.  Heck, we cynics don’t call it the “Friday Monday Leave Act” (FMLA) for nothin’.

Top 10 Tips to Combat FMLA Abuse

Fortunately for employers, there are several tools available to combat FMLA abuse. At least 10, I figure. Likely more. I’ll start with these and encourage you to share other tactics that have worked for you to halt FMLA abuse.  Here are 10 that have worked for me and my clients:

  1. Require that Employees complete a written leave request form for all absences. Although an employer cannot deny FMLA leave if the employee provides verbal notice of the need for FMLA leave and they articulate an unusual circumstance as to why they could not follow proper procedures, requiring the employee to put a leave request in writing and return it to Human Resources tends to deter them from gaming the system.
  2. Prepare a list of probative questions you ask all employees when they request time off. Employers, you have the right to know why your employee can’t come to work! So, prepare a list of questions that you ask your employees when they call in an absence. These will help you better determine whether FMLA is in play and if the request might be fraudulent:

– What is the reason for the absence?

– What essential functions of the job can they not perform?

– Will the employee see a health care provider for the injury/illness?

– Have they previously taken leave for this condition? If so, when?

– [If they are calling in late in violation of the call-in policy], when did the employee first learn he/she would need to be absent? Why did they not follow the Company’s call-in policy?

– When do they expect to return to work?

  1. Enforce call-in procedures. Every employer should maintain a call-in policy that, at a minimum, specifies when the employee should report any absence (e.g., “one hour before your shift”), to whom they should report the absence, and what the content of the call off should be.  If you don’t have call-in procedures set up in an employee handbook or personnel policy that is distributed to employees, begin working now with your employment counsel to put these procedures in place. They will help you better administer FMLA leave, combat FMLA abuse and help you address staffing issues at the earliest time possible.
  2. Certify … and Recertify! Clearly, one of the best tools employers can use to fight FMLA abuse is the medical certification form. Unfortunately, all too many employers fail to obtain (or fail to do so in a timely manner) from the employee the medical information necessary to determine whether the employee suffers from a serious health condition and even is entitled to leave.  Keep your employees honest — require them to certify their absence and seek recertification at the earliest opportunity.   Require medical certification to initially verify the serious health condition, upon the first absence in a new FMLA year, and when the reason for leave changes.
  3. Use the “Cure” Process to your Advantage When Following Up on Certification.  Where the medical certification form does not sufficiently answer the questions posed on the form or the health care provider’s responses tend to raise doubts, employers should immediately communicate with the employee to cure the deficiencies and/or shed light on any suspect information provided in the form.  In your correspondence, specifically list the unanswered or incomplete questions and provide the employee with a deadline of at least seven calendar days to fix the deficiencies.  Here, you might consider asking questions that probe further into the information you find particularly suspect. Also, seek clarification whenever the employee has failed to cure and the certification remains incomplete or insufficient.  Additionally, consider using a physician or a nurse to contact the employee’s health care provider on the employer’s behalf (but remember: you must have the employee’s permission to contact the employee’s health care provider).
  4. Have Employee Complete a Personal Certification. Upon return from any leave of absence (FMLA or otherwise), ask the employee to complete a personal certification asking them to confirm that they actually took leave for the reason provided.  The benefit of using this kind of form is fairly straightforward: In the event that the employee takes leave inconsistent with the stated reason, the employer can discipline him/her for falsification of employment records. In doing so, you avoid having to make the argument that they abused FMLA leave, which comes with some tricky legal analysis. Here, you simply argue that the employee falsified a record and you took action as you would in any other situation where an employee falsified a document. My recommended form looks like this: 
  5. Check in on your Employee and/or Make Them Stay Put.  Want to be really aggressive but operate within the law?  I have a handful of clients who explicitly tell employees that it is their policy to check in on the employee if they are using paid sick leave, and then they actually check in on them. Taking this one step further, some clients require their employees to remain in the immediate vicinity of their home while they are recuperating.  If they don’t follow this policy, they face discipline. Think this tactic is illegal?  Think again. One court already upheld this very approach!
  6. Follow up on Patterns of Absences. Monday/Friday absences. Taking days off around a holiday to extend time off. These situations smack of FMLA abuse. If you witness a pattern of absences over even a modest period of time (e.g., over a series of weeks or in back-to-back months), we arguably have the right to reach out the employee’s physician. Here, we follow the FMLA regulations (29 CFR 825.308) and ask the employee’s physician to confirm for us whether the pattern you’re witnessing is consistent with Johnny’s serious health condition and his need for leave. (If you sign up for my CALM service, you can obtain your own sample letters for these situations).
  7. Scheduling Medical treatment Around Your Operations. Require that employees make a reasonable effort to schedule medical treatment around your operations and consider temporarily transferring employees (to an equivalent position) where leave is foreseeable based on planned medical treatment. Too many employers simply give up on this requirement, allowing employees to call the shots as to when they will obtain medical treatment, and the employee’s preference is smack dab in the middle of the workday.
  8. Conduct a comprehensive audit of your FMLA practices. Work with your employment counsel to ensure that your FMLA policy and forms are up to date, that you are employing the best strategies to combat FMLA abuse and that your FMLA administration is a well-oiled machine.