FMLA Urgent request

Peggy

I am new to this company and they are experiencing a possible abuse of FLMA.
The employee has a teenage daughter with a mental illness, she lives with the father. It seems there is a "problem" that needs to attended to almost daily. Before now there was no traking of her time (she is hourly).

The company is a transportation company where she is a dispatcher. Therefore her attendance is crucial to the operation of business. She gets calls and has to leave at different times, has appointments throughout the day and calls in late. At times she leaves without even notifying her supervisor. (she also does not swipe out) She has been disciplined on her actions, since beginning FMLA. She was granted Intermittent Leave in whole day increments.

The owners of the company want her gone. They previously approached her about changing her work schedule, however she declined the opportunity, and this is no longer an option.

Please advise as soon as possible.

PAhr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-13-03 AT 05:03PM (CST)[/font][p]I see a few problems. One being that the child is not in her care but I suppose that is a matter of symantics. I would address the problem as follows. Call her in for a meeting and explain what you expect of her while on FMLA. She is to follow the proper call-off procedures as all other employees. She is to notify a supervisor before leaving work. She is to punch out whenever she is leaving work, for any reason. You may not be able to eliminate the abuse but at least keep it to a minimum and I imagine other employees are having a problem with this as well as they see FMLA as a free pass to do whatever. Also, if her frequent absences are causing operational problems you could consider moving her to a position where absences are not such a problem.

One other thing to remember. If this is truly a problem employee who is just using the FMLA to cover personal absences, FMLA will eventually run out at which point you can discipline accordingly, including termination. Don't jump the gun, let her hang herself as most do.

Whatever

I assume you got FMLA documentation from a doctor. However, the issue really is a flagrant disregard for basic company rules. Since she has been warned about leaving without notifying her supervisor and/or not clocking out, the time has come for a suspension.

The statement "the owners of the company want her gone", should not be repeated. It could be misinterpreted that there is retribution for the FMLA.

Nat

>I am new to this company and they are experiencing a possible abuse of
>FLMA.
>The employee has a teenage daughter with a mental illness, she lives
>with the father. It seems there is a "problem" that needs to attended
>to almost daily. Before now there was no traking of her time (she is
>hourly).
>
>The company is a transportation company where she is a dispatcher.
>Therefore her attendance is crucial to the operation of business. She
>gets calls and has to leave at different times, has appointments
>throughout the day and calls in late. At times she leaves without even
>notifying her supervisor. (she also does not swipe out) She has been
>disciplined on her actions, since beginning FMLA. She was granted
>Intermittent Leave in whole day increments.
>
>The owners of the company want her gone. They previously approached
>her about changing her work schedule, however she declined the
>opportunity, and this is no longer an option.
>
>Please advise as soon as possible.

Rules need to be followed so deal with those. Unfortunately, FMLA is not a owner "friendly" law. Employers are required to provide up to 12 weeks of leave for eligible employees regardless of the hardship to the employer. The FMLA permits leave to be taken intermittently or on a reduced-leave schedule when medically necessary, without the employer's approval, in order to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious medical condition. An employer may ask for a second opinion though, so you may want to get a second opinion to verify that your employee indeed needs intermittent leave. You need to be careful about retaliation issues or what might be perceived as retaliation. I am concerned about the fact that she was "granted Intermittent Leave in whole day increments." You might want to check and make sure that you can do this. I thought you had to allow intermittent leave in the same increments that your time keeping system calculates time (i.e. 15 minute increments, minute by minute, etc.). It has been my experience that owners, managers, etc. don't like FMLA and therefore some choose not to want to follow the rules. This can get you into lots of hot water. Make sure you follow the law, not what you may be being pressured to do by an owner or manager.