A few days off without any notice....
KP68
164 Posts
Here's one for you. Employee states the following after being back at work for two days:
"I just wanted to inform you of my recent absences. My son was very ill last week and required my immediate attention. He has asthma and then got the flu. He has improved greatly and has returned to his child care. I was also exposed to the flu and became sick during the day on Thursday at work. I am a single parent and have no one else available to help me at this time with my son, this is why I had to take off a few days without any notice. "
Would you send FMLA papers at this time? What if I don't get any back because she used sick days for these absences anyway? Is there any incentive for the employee to even return them at this point??
"I just wanted to inform you of my recent absences. My son was very ill last week and required my immediate attention. He has asthma and then got the flu. He has improved greatly and has returned to his child care. I was also exposed to the flu and became sick during the day on Thursday at work. I am a single parent and have no one else available to help me at this time with my son, this is why I had to take off a few days without any notice. "
Would you send FMLA papers at this time? What if I don't get any back because she used sick days for these absences anyway? Is there any incentive for the employee to even return them at this point??
Comments
Even though she used sick time, if qualified you may count the time as FMLA and deduct that from her entitlement. If you don't, she still has those days left in her "FMLA Bank".
Say I'm the employee in question and when you send me these papers, I come back and say, "But I used my own sick time for these days. Why do I have to go through all of this?"
How do you respond to this? I know it seems rather elementary, but I have faced this more than once, and I struggle with this.
My initial response is something along the lines of..."because we need to determine if your time off is job-protected or not." But if she used her own paid sick time and if it is not designated as FMLA (meaning she doesn't turn the forms in), what are the disadvantages for HER in this situation since she used sick time anyway?
Clear as mud, right?
However, as I outlined above, there are disadvantages for the ER to not designate the leave as part of the EE's entitlement hours/days.
The REGS do give the ER a little flexibility in that if you have enough information to make a decision regarding qualifications for leave, you may designate it as such with proper notification to the EE.
It is Friday and I hope I have not muddied the waters more.
Also, is the flu considered a serious health condition? Isn't it continued care by a physician, three days away from the job, and/or hospitalization?