The top 10 questions employers should ask about FMLA
As employers work to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the ever-changing federal and state leave law landscape, many face the same problems:
- 82% struggle to keep up with changes to federal and state leave laws
- 81% grapple with coordinating different types of absences
- 74% have trouble keeping track of intermittent time
Failure to address these difficulties could lead to costly, time-consuming compliance and legal issues. It’s important for employers to find solutions that help protect their companies, improve productivity, and provide value to the workforce.
Start the discussion around those solutions by asking these important questions:
- Are you currently informing all of your employees of their FMLA rights?
- Have you notified employees that their leaves have counted towards their 12-week FMLA entitlement?
- Are you aware that you can’t count FMLA against your company’s absentee policy for disciplinary purposes?
- Do you currently take disciplinary action against employees that utilize their FMLA rights?
- Do you currently grant leave in order for an employee to provide physical care or physiological comfort to a seriously ill parent?
- When an employee returns to work after an FMLA qualified leave, do you reinstate them to their same position or equivalent job?
- Have you terminated an employee during a qualified FMLA leave?
- Have you ever failed to grant FMLA because of confusion over what constitutes a “serious health condition?”
- Is medical certification required for a particular leave and are employees provided with required time frames?
- Are you able to effectively handle questions about FMLA medical certification?
How does your current absence management program help you address FMLA?
No matter how you answered the questions above, it may be time to look more closely at how your absence management efforts are serving your employees, and your business. Guardian can help, by giving you the tools and resources you need to help create optimized, efficient, and compliant employee leave experiences.
