The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is designed to provide job protection and work/life balance for American workers. FMLA provides time off for employees with an illness or injury, to care for their loved ones, or for the birth or adoption of a child. In 2008 FMLA was strengthened with the addition of the National Defense Amendment Act which provides additional job protection and leave time for families of military members.
Many employers just don’t realize they are not in compliance with FMLA regulations. Regardless of intentions, ignorance of the law does not protect a company from the fines and penalties associated with non-compliance.
Not offering FMLA when you are legally obligated to do so will cause you more of a headache than if you had offered it in the first place. Terminating an employee without having offered FMLA and not notifying an employee of their FMLA rights in a timely manner are two of the major infractions the Department of Labor has been recently going after with plaintiff’s attorneys. Do you want to be the next landmark court case?
If you have 50 or more employees in a 75-mile radius, you are required to offer FMLA to eligible employees (employees who have worked for 12 months in the past 7 years* and have completed 1,250 hours of work in the previous 12 months). If your organization needs an FMLA process review or a complete FMLA overhaul, the HR Professionals at Achilles Group can assist you.
* If the employee has worked for you previously and in that time completed at least one year of consecutive employment within the past seven and has met the 1250 hours in the current employment period, s/he is eligible.
ANSWERS:1. Family Medical Leave Act 2. YES! 3. Depends. Would the employee have been eligible for the bonus if the s/he was not out on FMLA?
