John Hollon of TLNT.com recently published an Article setting forth the Top Ten areas of concern for HR Professionals. Here is the list:
"1. FMLA (the Family and Medical Leave Act) is the single most asked-about topic. Questions
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| Confusing |
HERE ARE
SOME OTHER LINKS YOU MAY FIND WORTHWHILE:
What Are My Employer's
Obligations When I Request FMLA Leave? Pennsylvania FMLA Attorneys
Am I Eligible for
Unemployment Benefits if I am Out on Family Leave?
New Jersey State Temporary
Disability Insurance - Contingent Fee Lawyers
Short-Term Disability,
Family Leave, ADA and Workers' Compensation - How They All Fit Together
HERE
ARE SOME OTHER ARTICLES YOU MAY FIND WORTHWHILE:
What is an ILLEGAL Hostile
Work Environment? Workplace Bullying Alone is Not Illegal in Pennsylvania
Employee Complaints and
Retaliation - What is Legal and What is Illegal
FILING A CHARGE OF
DISCRIMINATION IN PENNSYLVANIA - A FEW TIPS FROM CONTINGENT FEE LAWYERS
United States Employment
and Discrimination Laws - An Overview by Pennsylvania Employment Lawyer
UPDATE on Recent and
Pending Discrimination Matters Pertaining to LGBT-Rights from SCOTUS and EEOC
Ranking the Most Common EEOC Discrimination
Claims in 2011
3. Performance management strategies. Strategies for dealing with a problem employee such as: is it safe to ramp up the heat on a new hire that may not be working out or on a protected-class employee that isn’t responding to counseling? Also, group performance issues concurrent with culture changes or business cycle needs.
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| To Punch or Not To Punch? |
4. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) issues. Concerns center on correctly classifying a position as exempt, calculating overtime for multiple rates, what travel hours must be paid for an hourly employee, what are federal and state child labor rules. In addition, how much time can we ignore at clock-in or out? Can we round?
HERE
ARE SOME OTHER ARTICLES YOU MAY FIND WORTHWHILE:
Do I Have to Be Employed to
Get the Bonus or Commission I Earned in Pennsylvania?
Overtime Rules,
Regulations and Laws in Pennsylvania
If You are a Computer
Professional, You Are Entitled to Overtime in Pennsylvania
5. Immigration. Many questions arise regarding I-9 documentation and procedural questions. Such as, what do we do when the SSN comes back a no-match? An applicant has a matching SSN and ID, but we know it is not his. What can we do? And, we’re considering employing an H1-B employee. How complicated is that?
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| Do We Get Paid for This? |
7. Employee access to personnel files. Does the law require us to allow an employee to see or copy his file? What are the pros & cons of allowing it versus not? We just got a letter from an attorney requesting files. Do we have to send them? We have employees in a few other states. Are the rules different there?
HERE
ARE SOME OTHER ARTICLES YOU MAY FIND WORTHWHILE:
9. Employee privacy. Can we read employee e-mail or monitor Internet usage? What about the use of surveillance cameras? Is it legal? Can we search employees, or their workplace, belongings or cars?
10. Drug and alcohol issues. Under what conditions can employees be tested? If the employee tests positive, can we discharge? How can a drug test procedure be set-up, what should be in the policy?"
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| STD Available When You Are Out on FMLA |
In general - Not at all surprised that Family and Medical Leave Act issues are number 1.
FMLA leave is available if you or your spouse has a baby, or you or a loved one that has a serious condition. A serious condition is either 1) a prolonged or permanent condition suffered by you or a close family member that flares up once in a while and causes you to miss a few hours, or more, of work on an intermittent basis (either to care for yourself or the close family member with the condition); 2) a one-time illness or condition (i.e. broken leg, back surgery, etc.) suffered by you or a loved one that causes you to miss work for 3 days or more (either to care for yourself or a loved one), provided you (or your loved one) seek medical treatment for said illness/condition. If you are the one experiencing the injury or illness, the condition must be serious enough that you cannot complete your regular job duties.
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| Do I Qualify for FMLA Leave? |
NOTE: A serious health condition may arise from a malady that constitutes a disability under the American’s With Disabilities Act, such as diabetes, retardation, heart problems, cancer, etc., but it does not have to be of such serious import. If your child has chicken pox, and you take he/she to the doctor, and she/he misses 3 days of school, you are protected under FMLA.
Tricky part - you or a loved one have a longstanding condition (irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, any one of a myriad of childhood behavioral disorders, epilepsy, diverticulitis, diabetes, debilitating migraines, etc.) that from time to time leave you or your loved one incapacitated, during which time you must care for yourself or your loved one. For privacy reasons, you never tell the company about this situation. Occasionally, you miss work when the effects of these conditions dictate. The company then writes you up for being absent too much. You are eventually fired for poor attendance.
Do you have a claim for violation of FMLA? No, because the company was unaware that your need for intermittent FMLA leave, because you never told them about the medical condition. You do not need to waive all of your privacy rights in order to obtain FMLA leave by, for example, providing a copy of all of your (or your family member's) medical records to the company. Rather, you need only have your physician complete an FMLA Certification form generally identifying the condition and certifying that it makes you unable to complete your job duties either because of your own physical limitations, or because you are needed to care for a loved one.
Solution - if you or a loved one has such a condition, explain it to the company, and make sure it knows that you may need intermittent FMLA leave when it kicks up. As far as HR concerns about “controlling” intermittent leave, very little in the way of such control is permitted. Employees simply may not be penalized if they need to leave or miss work due to a health condition beyond their control.
For some additional insight on FMLA issues, check out this Article from Manpower.com.
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