6 Month Disability Leave and now more?

njjel

We have observed a policy of allowing our employees up to six months for disability leave (including federal FMLA and NJ FLA, sick and vacation time) if needed. Now an employee has suffered a disability that will keep him out longer than six months and the boss would like to extend the extra time to him. I say that once we do this we are setting a precedent for anyone else who needs to be out in the future. He seems to feel if we can point to "extenuating circumstances" that we are in the clear. Your opinions are invited!

Don D

I agree with both of you. If you do it, you are setting a precedent. But, if you do it and can point to extenuating circumstances, that will have to be your defense of the precedent down the road when the challenges come. And you'll be expected to show that 'other' circumstances didn't rise to that imaginary level of extenuation. If he insists on the extenuating circumstance deviation from policy, it might be wise up front to come up with a rough definition of what circumstances reach that bar. I know managers who would say an example would be a single mom who really needs to work, and that's the extenuating circumstance. Another example: A younger guy with the extenuating circumstance being that he has "tons of potential" as opposed to the older guy who probably ought to retire anyway. How's your boss at bear-trap-extrication? xpray

njjel

Don - Thanks for your response to my question, but wouldn't we be risking a law suit for discrimination?

Gillian

You will only risk a lawsuit for discrimination if the reason for not extending leave to someone else was based on race, color, religion etc. etc. As Don states the basic issue is one of evaluating whether or not the reason for extension is worth the decisions which may have to be made at a later date when similar circumstances arrive with other employees. There is nothing wrong with extending the leave if there is a willingness to consider others in similar circumstances. Failure to do that, while maybe not a discrimination issue, will certainly be a morale one, because other employees will view the earlier exception as favoritism. On occasion I have changed policies when I thought that doing so made sense, so that the "exception" is no longer an exception and we won't have issues in the future. Of course, if you do that, there is always the possibility of a circumstance which will be an exception to the new limits. It's all about an evaluation of the pro's and con's of resolving an issue - if you can help someone out, do so, but if it will create too many other issues, explain that you can't.

System

You also need to consider the ADA. Would this additional leave create an undue hardship on your company? If not, you might need to grant it as a reasonable accommodation.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers