Replacement for Employee on Disability

Missy

We have a long term employee that developed a brain tumor and has been out for the last 8 months. She is currently on long-term disability and while we are all hopeful that she will be able to return, it's not looking good.

We've hired a temporary to fill in for her that is doing a good job and would like permanent employment. I'm looking for suggestions on how best to handle this. We don't want our current employee to think she's lost her job and we don't want to lose our temp either. In the meantime, we are interested in making sure the work gets done!

Thanks!

Down_the_Middle

It's hard to specifically advise you not knowing your policies on max LOA allowed, has COBRA already been activated, etc....... The one thing that is clear to me is to NOT handle this via mail. This lady's supervisor s/b coached and should either call her on the phone or meet her in person----explaining the need to terminate her employment, what that means, what it does not mean, etc... It's far too easy to send a letter informing the employee of their termination, but from experience, I can tell you it's not the right way to do it. Handle this person exactly like you'd prefer to be informed if the roles were reversed. It takes so little addt'l time to do it right!!!!!

Margaret Morford

DTM is exactly right! All of this needs to be handled in person. Do you have a policy that says no one may remain on leave for longer than X months? If not, you need to enact one after you deal with this situation. You need to understand how this policy would effect ADA and FMLA before you do put one in.

I would explain to the employee that no one may remain on leave indefinitely, (I am assuming that no one else has ever been able to be on leave this long and remain on the payroll) but that you want her to return when she feels up to working again. Ask her to call you when she is released to work again and you will look at what you have that you can place her in. If you have a policy that restores time to people that terminate and return, explain it to her so that she will have a comfort level that she won't have to start all over again (if your policy allows this.) If you don't have a policy about this, you need to consider one and could make her the first one to benefit from it. While she may never return, she needs whatever assurances you can give her that you want her back.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]