As I celebrate my third anniversary at Littler, I’d like to invite you to an FMLA party.

Seriously.

A party where we spend seven hours together over two straight days discussing nothing but the F-M-L-A.

Are you excited yet!?! Let me explain more.

FMLA Master Class

For years, many of you have encouraged me

It’s arrived. Finally.

For those of us who have poured over the 490 glorious pages of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers across America to get their employees vaccinated, our collective heads are spinning this morning.

This is a leave law blog so, of course, I’ll give you everything you need to know about

Raise your hand if you’re neck deep in COVID-19 vaccine exemption requests. [Yeah, I get it, you’re neck deep, so you can’t raise your hand.]

My friends, this exemption onslaught will only get more intense as we await OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that will require employers with over 100 employees to mandate

The questions have come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Q: I furloughed several of my employees in 2020. Does the time on furlough count toward their FMLA eligibility?

Q: We forced an employee to take a leave of absence when they exhibited symptoms of COVID-19, which led to a multi-week leave of absence.

Let me start with a toast.

A toast to the Department of Labor, which was thrust into a spotlight it didn’t seek. After Congress hastily cobbled together a bunch of confusing words on paper providing many American workers with a modest amount of paid sick leave and amending the FMLA to do the same, DOL

Yesterday, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (pdf), which aims to provide initial relief to American workers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.  This new law requires certain employers to provide emergency paid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and emergency paid sick leave.

I outline the