Protect your organization from legal hardships concerning FMLA leave, while understanding how to successfully manage employees on leave.

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The FMLA has now been in place for more than 25 years, and in terms of understanding, implementation, and recognizing the outer bounds, it seems to be more complex with every passing year. Without a doubt, the FMLA has resulted in tremendous changes in the workplace and has been a benefit to thousands of employees with serious medical conditions or whose family members have serious medical conditions. Nonetheless, implementation is difficult and time-consuming, and often can seem overly intrusive (to both parties). In response, some employers simply grant FMLA leave to everyone who applies for it, regardless of whether they work at a location that is technically covered and/or whether the employee provides the appropriate support for the requested leave. Other employers may be hyper-technical with regard to implementation and may unknowingly (or even intentionally) fall short of full compliance. Many employers fail to appropriately train HR and line managers, with the result that they might not know and understand the company’s policies and/or obligations, or the obligations that the FMLA imposes on employees. This topic is intended to clarify which employees are covered by the FMLA, what their rights and obligations are, and how management can best manage the employees who are on FMLA, including the small subset that is seemingly the most problematic and time-consuming.

Learning Objectives

• You will be able to define the employer’s notice and posting requirements, the employee’s responsibilities to provide certifications and communicate, and how to draw a road map for decision making.
• You will be able to describe what actions are appropriate where there is suspected abuse of intermittent leave.
• You will be able to explain how to untangle FMLA/ADA/workers’ compensation issues, the scope of an employer’s obligations at the end of FMLA, and what actions might be deemed to constitute interference or retaliation.
• You will be able to identify Department of Labor standards, as published in online advisories, and use them to aid in adopting sound policy.