Kelly, an administrative assistant for Penn State Health, racked up quite a few absences over a short period of time. Some of these absences related to GI issues that ordinarily would be covered by the FMLA. In Kelly’s case, however, she repeatedly failed to timely report these absences, which led to attendance points. Penn State Health’s call-in procedures required employees like Kelly to make two calls whenever they wanted to request FMLA leave: 1) one call…

Recently, an email I received from a HR-related organization caught my eye. The email was fashioned as a Q&A.  One of its members posed a question that I’ve paraphrased here: Our practice is to reach out to employees on FMLA leave once a month to check in and see how they are doing.  So long as we just check in and do not discuss return to work, are allowed to do this? The organization called…

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. Does the fact that we forced them to take leave change whether those hours should be credited toward FMLA eligibility?…

FMLA and ADA friends: You’ve known me long enough to appreciate that I don’t engage in a whole lot of shameless self-promotion.  Well, ok, some, but not so distasteful that you’ve given up on me, right? So, can you indulge me one time? Over the past several years, you are facing increasingly difficult FMLA, ADA and state leave issues, and you likely have limited internal resources to help. Some of you have modest-sized HR and…

The Department of Labor is quickly catching up to the telemedicine explosion and America’s remote workplace. In an effort to ease FMLA administration and address the lightning-fast move toward telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOL issued guidance yesterday making clear that a telemedicine visit with a health care provider can be used to support FMLA leave. As you may recall under the FMLA, one way for an employee to prove they have a…