FMLA Abuse?

LindaS

I have an employee whose parent has what will most definitely fall under a "serious health condition" under FMLA. He took one day off in March and I provided him with the necessary paperwork and informed him he had 15 days to have it completed. In the meantime I designated his time off as FMLA with the understanding from him that the paperwork needed to be completed. He came to me a couple of weeks ago and told me the dr. lost the paperwork and needed an additional set, which I provided. I have not yet seen the completed paperwork.

Last week I was talking with our mfg. director and this employee's name came up and the director informed me that the ee asked him if he could use FMLA for meeting with some contractors regarding his home (he lost his home in a fire earlier this year). The dir. told him NO and that he should "flex" under our flextime policy which would allow him to meet with the contractors and not obtain any points under our attendance policy. This is what the dir. thought he did.

Today I get his absence report and find that the ee claimed the time missed as FMLA and did not make it up.

Do I have any recourse to ask the employee about this since he has not returned the FMLA paperwork and has not been officially approved?

POPEYE

If the EE was notified IN WRITING of their responsibility to submit certification within 15 days and did not do so, then you may treat the absence as you would any other. The key is notification in writing. Even though we have the requirements posted on every bulletin board in our facility and have the requirements in our EE handbook, the DOL specifically states that the EE must be notified in writing each and every time they may qualify for FMLA. If I sound kind of bitter, I am, because we just went through several months of negotiation over one little similar incident.

Don D

Apart from the issue of FMLA, I think I would call the ee in with his supervisor and get him to clarify the reason for his absence. If it is true that he lied about the reason for the absence in violation of your attendance (flex) policy, that should be dealt with. Sounds like he jerked you around with that excuse, and if so, I wouldn't ignore it.

LindaS

I would like to thank both of you for your responses. After talking with our Plant Manager the decision was made to speak with the EE regarding the reason for his absence and assign him points in accordance with our attendance policy. The EE was also informed that this could have resulted in a disciplinary action due to his providing false information to his supervisor, although no actual discipline was taken.

The employee was talked to and his attendance was adjusted accordingly.

Thanks again.