Equivalent position/pay upon return from FMLA

HRNOLA

If an employee is returning from FMLA to an equivelant position, are we still within compliance if she is reassigned to a different shift that will no longer provide her with Shift Differential pay?

Does our obligation to "equivelant pay" apply only to base pay?

Gillian

This one probably depends on whether or not the employee thinks that it is equivalent. If the employee considers change a positive one, even with the loss of shift differential, you are probably OK. If the employee is dependent financially on the $$ or has a life built around the shift that he/she is on, you can bet that it won't be considered equivalent. These kinds of issues generally get argued about in court.

Parabeagle

Also check your court decisions. Seems to me that I recently read a decision (can't remember out of which circuit) in which an appeals court ruled that reinstatement to a job on another shift, although identical to the employee's previous position, did not constitute an "equivalent" position.