Intermittent Leave with Suspicious Patterns

psrcello

We have a point system on attendance, which many of our employees have found that FMLA is great way to get around. For example, we have an employee with chronic sinusitis (qualifies for FMLA under the applicable definition) who has missed six out of the previous eight Sundays (part of her regular work week.) We also have an employee with gout, which also qualifies as a chronic serious health condition, who seems to conveniently have an attack and miss work on Mondays, Fridays, or the days before and after a holiday. A third employee has a wife with serious psyciatric problems that also flare up before and after holidays. Employees seem to see FMLA as carte blanche to miss work, extend weekends or holidays, etc., without penalty under the attendance policy, or incurring any other type of disciplinary action.

Anybody else ever encountered this? I'd love to hear from anybody who has come up with a creative way to deal with this type of situation!

Paula

Don D

Paula: Indeed FMLA was a Godsend to many employees who are always tuned in on how to abuse systems and we also have quite a few of those. It has become a real salvation for quite a few abusers of our points system. You can always get recerts from doctors but you will probably realize you're wasting time doing it to no avail. This is a real dilemma for us. We can make the employees jump through a few hoops and kick up an HR stink; but, we'll only realize it is US to whom we are giving grief. I'll be watching for those creative ideas from others. x:-)

Theresa Gegen TX

On the side of the employee with psychiatric problems, having her spouse home during the holidays may very well be causing them to flare up!!

System

psrcello: Don't forget goofoff-itis, the 24-hour virus that hits a department whenever the boss goes out of town for a day.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers