HELP! FMLA & VACATION

Ethel

Our company policy is that an employee must use any applicable leave while on FMLA. That said, now the story -- We have a pregnant employee who is eligible for FMLA. She has two weeks vacation earned but unused and is eligible for STD. She has a due firm date of March 15th She has requested the two weeks prior to delivery date as vacation. While she is out, she will receive compensation from our STD. Can we do anything to schedule this as concurrent instead of sequential so that she is not out 14 weeks instead of only 12?

Don D

Yes. You can deny the vacation. I would think that anybody who is about to be gone for multiple weeks is needed there as long as possible to transition the work to someone else or to knock out as much work as possible before her absence. I would deny the vacation.

Carey

You say that while she is out she will receive STD - does that mean the two weeks prior to giving birth she'll receive STD benefits? If so, you can probably designate that as FMLA because usually in order to collect STD, it has to be certified by a doctor. We pretty much automatically designate STD's as FMLA. Then she'll get 10 weeks after the birth.

Ethel

No STD for the two weeks she is on vacation. STD begins when Dr. certifies she can no longer work, which just happens to be when her two weeks vacation is up.

Balloonman

Deny the vacation.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

stilldazed

I agree with the two posts to deny the vacation. The employee's vacation request is a request, and the employer has the prerogative to approve or not. If the worker expects to be out of work for an entire 12 weeks, her position, her department, and her employer need her services right up to the start of her leave date. Deny the vacation based on business need. If the worker disagrees, explain that the alternative could be much worse (i.e., if there is no need for her position to be manned up to the final hour, there would not be a need for the position). Do it nicely, of course, but the decision is a business decision.

Carey

Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate here. If you deny the vacation because she's about to take an FMLA leave, could that be construed as retaliation for taking FMLA? I agree with everyone else that employers can deny vacation requests, but am not sure if denial of vacation could be considered a negative employment decision based on employee's use of FMLA. This situation has never come up here, and we would probably not deny vacation because employees get so much leave already in CA, what's another two weeks?

Ethel

Uncle Sam's buck took care of the situation. Our STD payments are based on term of employment. When she found out that she would not be on full pay the entire 12 weeks, she withdrew her vacation request and will be using her vacation to supplement when STD goes to l/2.

Thanks everybody for the advice and info. This has never come up for us and I was taken by surprise! As others have stated many times, when the unusual or problem comes up, it sure is good to know that we have the forum to lean on!!!!!!!!!