On Wednesday, we looked at 5 common situations that can get you sued over the mishandling of family leave. Today, 4 more—plus an invitation to a 1-day California-specific event that will get all of your trickiest leave questions answered once and for all.
[For #s 1-5, click here.]
- Intermittent FMLA/CFRA leave can be difficult to track. This can lead to inconsistent tracking and the perception of unfairness, especially if some employees feel they have to provide more information (medical certifications, etc.) than other employees. Failure to track all instances of intermittent leave can also appear unfair.
- Managers and employees get frustrated with those who must take time off and often end up enforcing the rules more strictly for only those individuals—this can result in an unintended bias. It can even result in a retaliation claim.
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Leaves: One of the trickiest parts of your job … and one with very high stakes. Don’t miss our 1-day master class on leaves, specifically for HR professionals in California. Learn more. ________________________________________
- FMLA/CFRA abuse is not always caught; when it is, the actions taken against the abuser may appear unfair and spark a lawsuit—even if the employee (or former employee) is in the wrong.
- If an employee is terminated during or immediately after taking a protected leave, that can appear to be retaliatory, even if the termination is completely unrelated to the leave of absence. Employers need to be extra cautious in this situation and have plenty of documentation to support such a decision and timing.
While this list is not comprehensive, it shows how easy it can be for an employee to think he or she was treated unfairly—even if that was not the case. When employees feel they were treated unfairly, employers are at risk.
What steps do you take to minimize these risks at your workplace? We’d love to get your thoughts in the comments.
2014 FMLA/CFRA Master Class for California Employers:
Overcoming Compliance and Employee Leave Challenges
Coming to San Francisco: Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been a part of the workplace for over 20 years now, so it’s gotten easier for HR to administer, right? Not so. Confusing regulations, coupled with numerous recent changes at both the legislative and regulatory levels—and conflicting court decisions—ensure that FMLA continues to be one of the biggest compliance headaches for employers.
Plus, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), FMLA’s state-law counterpart, is an additional source of stress and confusion for California employers. It differs from FMLA in some key areas and is nearly always more employee-friendly. Even if you’re in compliance at the federal level, that’s no guarantee that you’re satisfying the stringent state-law rules on family and medical leave.
Now there’s help for the frustrated: 2014 FMLA/CFRA Master Class for Employers. Invest just 1 day to become even more proficient in FMLA/CFRA administration and handle questions from employees and top management with confidence and accuracy. You’ll get the very latest compliance tactics and enhance your advanced practitioner skill set when you attend this satisfaction-guaranteed event. Master Classes also qualify for continuing education credits.
You’ll learn:
- The key differences between FMLA and CFRA—and how to make sure you’re in compliance with CFRA’s more stringent, employee-friendly requirements
- The details of the latest expansions to both FMLA and CFRA, so you don’t risk noncompliance
- What recent FMLA and CFRA court decisions really mean, so you can adjust your policies accordingly
- Why leave-related recordkeeping continues to trip up even the savviest HR professionals, and effective solutions to avoid similar mistakes
- How to tame the intermittent leave and reduced schedule beasts, and put a stop to abuse and fraud
- How FMLA/CFRA, ADA/FEHA, and the California workers’ comp laws overlap—and which rules to apply in what order
- What to expect when an employee’s expecting, so you can balance your business needs with her personal requirements, all within the spirit and letter of both state and federal law
- How to evaluate a “serious health condition” the way a real judge would, and eliminate disputes about what does and doesn’t qualify
The conference speakers will also take you out of classroom mode, and help you address real-life situations that are relevant to today’s compliance challenges, including these sample scenarios:
Scenario 1: You’ve been asked to terminate an employee for repeated violations of your organization’s absence policy. Just when you are about to do so, she requests FMLA leave. What’s the safest course of action, in light of a recent decision from an appeals court facing just such a question?
Scenario 2: An employee comes to you requesting FMLA leave to take care of a child born to his teen daughter. Under FMLA, who is considered a parent? The legal term is “loco parentis,” and it’s a hot issue right now both locally and nationally.
Scenario 3: An employee has an autistic son who repeatedly runs away from school in the middle of the day. She leaves work to search for him. Is this time eligible for FMLA intermittent leave protection?
Scenario 4: Your leave policy is much more generous than what’s required under FMLA, offering 6 months of leave for medical conditions. FMLA only requires 12 weeks. So why could terminating an employee whose leave demands exceed your benefit incur the scrutiny, even the legal challenge, of the EEOC?
Conference Details
Continental breakfast and registration begin at 7:30 a.m. The program begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 4:30 p.m. There will be morning and afternoon breaks, and registrants will be on their own for lunch.
Master FMLA administration in just 1 day by participating in this all-new program created just for California employers and HR management.
Download your copy of Notice Requirements for CFRA and FMLA: California Labor Laws today!
It seems like many managers and supervisors don’t really understand retaliation, specifically how broadly it can be interpreted. With retaliation charges ranking at or near the top of EEOC charges for several years now, you can’t go wrong really educating them on what it is and how to avoid it.