FML-Use of Vacation Personal Time as part of Leave

djf NJ

Currently our company policy states that all unused personal/sick leave followed by accrued vacation leave time must be used as part of, but not an extension of, the period of the leave of absence.
Due to an employee and a member of upper management feeling that employees should be granted personal/vacation time as an extension to FML, I am researching the pros and cons of granting personal/vacation time to extend a leave. Because FML is "unpaid time off", they feel that vacation/personal time is "paid" time that they are additionally entitled to.

I would greatly appreciate your input and suggestions.

cthr

Many companies require employees to use all of their paid leave while on FMLA. My company requires that if the employee is on FMLA because they are are ill or injured, they must use all of their sick time. Vacation and floating holidays are optional for them to use.

The intent of the law was not to make employers pay employees if they had no time available. The time can be paid if the person has accrued leave and the comapny requires them to use their accrued time.

Why would an employer want to allow an employee 12 weeks of unpaid, plus 2 weeks vacation, plus another week or two of sick/personal time. Besides, how many employees can afford to be out for 12 weeks and not get paid?

LindaS

As an employer who does NOT require employees to use sick/vacation time when out on FMLA, I can tell you how much more difficult managing absences becomes.

Imagine an employee who has been approved for intermittent leave, doesn't have to use his/her vacation and uses 1-2 days per week of FMLA. Then, after using all their FMLA, receives an additional 4-5 weeks off for vacation. You now have a person off work for 17 total weeks which is a significant period of time.

Whirlwind2

djf,

I understood your question differently than the other respondents, so maybe some clarification is in order. I thought you were saying that you DO require them to use paid leave during FMLA, and asking whether you should let them continue to use any remaining paid leave after their 12 weeks are up.

If that's your question, I would say yes. In the unlikely event that someone has more than 12 weeks of paid leave saved up, that person has probably had good attendance, to say the least, and is now really in a serious personal or family situation. I would not be able to say, "Hey, thanks for working here all this time and coming to work so faithfully, but we're not going to let you continue to use the leave YOU'VE EARNED."

But maybe that's not what you meant....?

lnelson

djf-
So are you saying that an ee wants too be guaranteed a position for 16 wks because they may have 4 wks of vacation/sick leave that they want to tack onto FML. Or is FML starting after the vacation/sick time is taken.
Sounds the same to me.

I would stick to your company policy and be consistent with it.

Just my thoughts.
Lisa

marc

A company can elect to go beyond the FMLA requirements. The pros are easy, they are all about employee relationships and placing value on the EEs. The cons are much more focused on the companies bottom line. There are both real and hidden costs associated with EEs being out of work for an extended period of time. You must train people to do the jobs that the EE on leave ordinarily does. If you do not hire temps to handle the load, then guess what? Everyone around that position does a bit more work and in some cases one or two unlucky ones get all the work. If they are exempt, their salaried position just got at least 40 hours a week added to it, or will you let the work just sit there waiting for the EE to return? It is not many ERs who can afford to let that happen.

If you have an EE or two that you want to allow more time off for whatever reason, give them a leave of absence outside of FML. Of course, there are some issues with this policy - like consistency for all EEs, but it avoids the requirement to give every EE extra FML.

mbeam

We've had this debate as well and decided to go with running the two concurrently after they run out of disability pay (if applicable). As a prior post mentioned, it wasn't popular with all but made sense from a business perspective for the very reason someone else noted - easier to administer with less burden on co-workers.

We don't have a waiting period for vacation. It is based on someone working for the full year. When someone knows they will be off (surgery, baby), we will adjust their time off bank so they don't use up more than earned.

However, if the circumstances are such that the individual has a special event or the workload allows them to take additional time off for a vacation, wedding, etc. we do make allowances whenever possible.

djf NJ

Thanks to all of your for your input. It helped a great deal!

djf NJ