The FMLA is one of the most complex of labor laws, and it soon may become even more so. Here’s a tool for making compliance easier, and to keep up with the changes.
Question: Where can a person be classified as a parent without actually being a parent?
Answer: In the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
We came across this curious fact when researching yesterday’s story on how mothers are treated in the workplace. According to employment law columnist Jim Jorgensen, the term parent, in the FMLA’s lexicon, can mean “an individual who has stood in loco parentis [took the role of a parent] to an employee when the employee was a child. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary.”
What does this mean? An employee can take time off to care for a grandparent, an uncle, even someone not even related by simply stating that the person filled a parental role in his or her life. Just another complexity in what’s universally seen as a very complex law.
New provisions likely on the way
If news reports are accurate, it won’t be the last complexity the FMLA presents. That’s because the law is currently under review and may change in a major way.
FMLA made understandable … that’s BLR’s Family and Medical Leave Compliance Guide program. Try it at no cost or risk for 30 days. Click here.
The threshold for compliance may drop from 50 employees to 15 (some states have even lower thresholds). New reasons for time off, such as attending school events, may be added. The rules for intermittent leave, which currently let workers depart, often without notice, right in the middle of a workday, may be revised. And though it’s less likely, some form of paid leave may replace the current provision for unpaid time off.
At a time like this, the question becomes, how do you keep up with a law that’s already considered difficult to follow, and is, in fact, in flux?
We recently reviewed an answer. It’s BLR’s Family and Medical Leave Compliance Guide.
Feedback from the field tells us that this program comes as close to making the FMLA understandable as anything our readers have seen. It’s likely because the program’s editors decided to handle explaining the law this way:
No legalese, please! First and foremost was to honor a principle that’s been part of the culture here since the dawn of time (1977, in our case). That was to write the entire work in plain English. “We write for managers, not lawyers,” as BLR founder Bob Brady puts it.
Break it down. Second, they sliced this massive law into bite-sized pieces. One example: Explaining the allowable grounds for leave before getting into key definitions such as “serious health condition.” Exceptions, by the way, are included right with the rules, to be better seen in context.
Explain it in sequence. The editors also decided to explain the law in the sequence that you’d experience it. The section on handling leave requests comes before pay and benefits during the leave. That’s followed with a section on return from leave. And the sequence concludes with FMLA paperwork, such as follow-up time tracking and recordkeeping.
Chart the interactions. The FMLA wasn’t the first law to mandate medical leave. There were already existing provisions for it in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other laws. All must be accommodated alongside the FMLA in your overall leave policy scheme. That’s why, using narrative and charts, the editors show how the laws interact, including extensive explanations of the ADA, USERRA, workers’ comp, and even jury duty, in an FMLA context. Interplay with COBRA and ERISA is also covered.
BLR’s FMLA Compliance Guide includes both quarterly updates and newsletters. Try the program for 30 days. Click here.
State the state differences. Then, because state law usually trumps the federal when state requirements are more to the worker’s advantage, the editors included narrative and charts explaining how state leave law differs from the FMLA in all 50 states. Many feel this chart section is one of the most valuable elements of the program.
A program, not a book. Experience with HR professionals shows that they want “one-stop shopping” on compliance issues. That means information, forms, model policies, and government guidance materials all in one place. That place is the final section of the FMLA Compliance Guide.
Dealing with FMLA Changes — An Ongoing Need
Legislative revision isn’t the only way the FMLA can change. Agency and court decisions and case study experience all modify what you need to know about any given law. For that reason, the editors added both updates and a special newsletter, “FMLA Policy, Practice & Legal Update,” to the program. You get both every 90 days.
The BLR Family and Medical Leave Compliance Guide may be inspected at no cost and no risk in your office for up to 30 days. Click the link below, and we’ll be happy to arrange it.
A New and Improved FMLA?
The FMLA is under review. Compliance threshold, intermittent leave, even whether leave is unpaid or paid, may be changing. Keep up with the revisions with BLR’s Family and Medical Leave Compliance Guide program. Quarterly updates and newsletters included! Try the program for 30 days at our risk. Read more.