Restructuring Job During FMLA

Rockie

I am struggling with this FMLA issue. We have an employee who went out on FMLA (pregnancy). She only has 9 weeks of FMLA available to her as she has already taken 3 weeks this past year for some surgery.

Before she went on leave, we combined some areas and put them under her as the title RN - Coordinator. This was agreeable to her. We now find that we need to further restructure the job to include interfacing more with physicians. This individual really does not have the personality type to work well with physicians on a one to one basis. I know that FMLA states that the employer will restore the employee to the same or an equivalent position with the same salary and benefits. We will have an RN position available to her with the same salary and benefits, but it will not have the same type duties. In fact, the duties will probably end up being less stressful, but the salary is the same.

I just want to make sure we handle this with kid gloves as this person was already not too happy that she was not going to get 12 weeks "maternity leave". Would it be best just to leave this alone until she gets back from her leave and then make the changes? I just don't want to get into big mess with FMLA if it can be avoided.

Thanks for your input.

awilliams

Rockie- M.Lee Smith Publishers has just published a fantastic guide to the FMLA, entitled: FMLA Leave: A Walk Through the Legal Labyrinth. (And I'm not just calling it fantastic because I wrote it!). The report gives in-depth analysis of FMLA questions, such as the one you posed here on the Forum. You can receive a complementary copy of the report by becoming a subscriber to our Employment Law Center. Or, you can order an individual copy of the report. To do either of these things, go to: [url]http://www.hrhero.com/benefits.shtml[/url].

You are correct that the FMLA only requires an employee to be restored to the same or an equivalent position. Generally, if the alternate job requires the same skills and the pay is comparable, it is considered to be an equivalent position. From the way you describe it, the new job seems like it would fit the bill.

Your question about when to tell the employee about the change is a little more tricky, The FMLA is silent about when an employee must be notified of a job change. Also, the answer depends on how your policies are structured. For example, after the employee has her baby, she may be entitled to short-term disability leave (most OB's generally ok 6 weeks of STD for new mothers). If your policy does not designate that the STD be taken concurrently with FLMA leave, she may get another 6 weeks before she comes back. Then again, she may not come back at all. In the state of Tennessee, all new mothers (who have worked for the employer for 1 year) are entitled to 4 months of unpaid maternity and child-bonding leave. You should look into whether your state has any such law. Then, it will be up to you to determine whether it is better to tell her up-front about the job change, or wait until the day before she returns. I agree that you should tread lightly with this situation. You may, in fact, want to return her to the new position (with physician contact) and see how she does with it, before you make any changes.

Good luck!

bsa

If you wait till she comes back to her current position, then you may or may not have a performance problem. In my opinion, performance issues are easier to handle -- they're job; related governed by company policy rather than federal law!!