Late everyday - claims FMLA
nohr4u1yr
218 Posts
Good morning!
I have an employee that over the past month has been late coming into work anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes late. She is claiming she is late due to FMLA reasons. I feel that she is just late.
Is there anything I can do to question her or get any clarification from her doctor?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all have a great day!
I have an employee that over the past month has been late coming into work anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes late. She is claiming she is late due to FMLA reasons. I feel that she is just late.
Is there anything I can do to question her or get any clarification from her doctor?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all have a great day!
Comments
I can't imagine that being tardy would be in your agreement of understanding when you approved intermittent; but, I would have to know the details of the certification and the conversation.
Question: "Is there anything I can do to question her or get any clarification from her doctor"?
Answer: Yes. Some employees think that the term FMLA is a "get-out-of-jail-free-card." Forutunately, you are not required to take the employee's word for it. The employer is allowed to require the employee to verify a claim of a serious health condition that is prompting the need for, in your case, intermittent leave. This applies to the employee or the employee's spouse, child or parent. Go to the website below, download a copy of the form, and have the employee take it to the appropriate health care provider for completion. If and until the employee provides medical certification, treat the situation as you would any other attendance/tardy problem-employee.
Assuming that your company is covered by the Act and that the employee in question is eligible for FMLA leave, your question betrays the fact that your FMLA policies and procedures may need a review. Might be a good time to take a good look at your company's FMLA and attendance policies and procedures so when this or similar situations happen in the future (and they will) you will know what to do, and your employees will know what is expected of them.
[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fmla/wh380.pdf[/url]
Geno
She is receiving treatment and was referred to a specialist. I do recertify my employees and she is up for recertification.
Can/should I count 6 mintues as FMLA time used or is that up to us? If it is up to us I know I need to update our policy to reflect a minimum time limit to be used.
This is the first time I have had someone use (or try to use) under 30 minutes everyday. And it is ALWAYS in the morning.
Looking forward to your response.
Geno
If her doctor says she needs intermittent, then there should be some type of schedule that you both agree to. I don't think the employer is obligated to accommodate this type of activity unless the doctor can show it is truly necessary for the major illness she is experiencing.
Also, it seems that you can specify that certain blocks of time be used, at least in 15-minute increments. I can't imagine that you would have to track time in 6-minute or other odd-amount increments.
I would certainly do more checking into this and not allow it, if at all possible.
You should be following your attendance policy and looking forward to replacing this ee.
PORK
We have an employee with a child's certified FMLA on record that requires intermittent leave. A lot of times supervisor gets call late in the evening or early the next morning from employee stating "at hospital with kid, won't be in, mark against FMLA leave." We struggled with balancing "wanting the intermittent leave scheduled ahead of time" vs "reality, a call on a moment's notice."
What is your handling in such a situation?
Contrary to some of our forum members, most of our intermittent FMLA for an ee has been "as scheduled" for medical treatment. It is normally scheduled, at our request for the afternoon hours and usually for the entire 4 hours available for work. We have found most physician's do try to accomodate the ee and his/her employer with care in the afternoon. This includes parenting time off for "care giving" to an ill family member.
As long as everyone,(concerned with the subject FMLA,) knows the rules and how to play the system for the betterment of all concerned we do not seem to have these types of issue arise!
PORK