Matt was a correction officer for the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders, which as an aside, sounds like something straight out of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Before I digress further, Matt served as one of the caretakers for his mom, who suffered from dementia and required daily care. Matt sought FMLA leave, and he obtained medical certification from his mom’s doctor supporting his absence once per month for up to five days.…

Ed was an autoworker who dealt with apparent bouts of depression for which he sought intermittent FMLA leave. But he also had fistfuls of unexcused absences, so much so that he stood on the precipice of termination — one attendance point away, to be exact. Like many good employers, Ed’s employer required him to call into an attendance hotline to report his unforeseeable absences. FMLA leave also was administered by Sedgwick, a third-party administrator, so…

The FMLA was enacted in 1993, way back when fax machines had just begun ruling the world and we were only learning how to send an email to a friend. When the law was passed, FMLA didn’t contemplate a remote workforce, let alone one that would be hastily relegated to their homes during a global pandemic three decades later. For well over a year, many of your employees have been working from home. Some report…

Christmas in July might just exist after all! Give yourself and your loved ones the gift of three riveting — and, more importantly, free — webinars throughout the month of July that will tackle all things FMLA, ADA and paid family and medical leave. You want some practical strategy for fighting FMLA misuse?  I’ve got your back!  You need to get a handle on the proliferation of paid Family and Medical Leave laws and how…

I’ve often wondered — in fact, even discussed with clients — whether an employer could safely approve an employee’s FMLA-related absence and discipline the employee because he failed to timely report the absence. I’ve theorized that an employer could pull off both because the discipline punished the late call-in, not the FMLA leave. But I’ve never had a case supporting my wild theory. Till now. Let me explain Daphne’s story. Daphne was a flight attendant…

While nearly all of you are reading up on the CDC’s latest guidance allowing vaccinated folks to shed their masks inside and out, we’re getting back to the basics here on the FMLA Insights blog. A few of my clients have been grappling with how and when an employee recoups their FMLA leave entitlement in a new FMLA leave year after the employee has used FMLA leave throughout the year. Such a common issue,…

If you find yourself mired in FMLA abuse, take comfort in this real-life husband and wife leave escapade. Location:  City of Taipei, Taiwan, which maintains a law in which eight days of paid leave is provided to newlyweds. How nice. Johnny worked for a bank in Taiwan, and was set to wed his lovely fiancée, Susie.  According to the New York Times, the twosome first married on April 6, 2020, which unlocked eight days…