FMLA Tracking Question

LindaS

I have an EE who has been approved for intermittent leave. There is no schedule for the leave but rather one of those "when his condition acts up". Here's the problem...

We are currently working voluntary OT and the EEs can work up to two OT hours per day. We also allow the EEs to come in early to work the OT so they can still leave at their "normal" time.

This EE has been coming in early to work the OT but leaving after 4 hours for FMLA. He feels that he should only be "docked" 4 hours of FMLA and not the OT hours. I say that since he came in early to work the OT, his shift schedule has changed so any time missed counts as FMLA.

Here is an example, the EE's schedule is normally 7-3. He comes in at 6:00 to work one hour of OT. He leaves at 10:00 and states that he is taking four hours of OT. I say it should count as five hours due to his coming in early.

If an EE who is not on FMLA did the same thing, they would be charged a five hour absence, not four.

What do you guys think?

POPEYE

I have always used the "regular" schedule to determine the leave time. In your scenario, the EE was scheduled to work until 3, left at 10, I would charge 5 hours of FMLA entitlement.

mushroomHR

I would charge five hours as well since he is scheduled to work until 3:00.

marc

Interesting question.

The act entitles an EE to 12 work weeks of leave. Ordinarily, this would mean 12 x 40 hours or 480 intermittent hours.

You have two factors going on that would act to make this a meaningless exercise. First, you say the OT hours are voluntary. If that is the case, you are in effect saying the OT is mandatory by requiring this EE to count the scheduled voluntary hour as a use of FML time. Right away, I would say you are penalizing this EE and trying to reduce the number of hours the are allowed by the law.

Next, your scheduling of OT has the effect of extending the number of hours in the work week. Whether your regular week is now 45 hours or 50 hours would have the bottom line impact of adding those additional weekly hours to the total this EE is allowed for FML calculation purposes. If you use the 45 hour week, then you have, in effect added 5 hours per week to the normal workweek, which would add 60 hours to the FML intermittent time available (12 x 5 = 60). So if you insist on counting that extra, voluntary hour for purposes of counting FML leave, you are collecting those hours toward a goal of 540 hours (480 + 60).

So, either way you look at it, count the hour if you want the goal to be 540 hours, or don't count it if you are measuring toward a 480 hour goal. Either way, you cannot penalize the EE for using FML.

Make sense?

lorrie

An employee can't work OVERtime if not working REGULAR time first. I say if they come in early to work their regular hours so they can get 2 hours overtime in before the end of their regular shift, then the first 8 hours are considered regular time, and the last 2 hours are considered overtime. Therefore if he works 6-10 a.m. he is working 4 hours of his regular shift, and 4 hours counts toward FMLA. No overtime applies at all. (I assume he is not getting paid time & a half for the early morning hour?)

LivindonSouth

I agree with Lorrie. Deal strictly with the schedule, not the mention of or consideration of the word overtime. That's irrelevant. If you schedule him to work 10 hours and he works 5, 5 would count toward FMLA. However, in my opinion, your schedule would need to 'hold' for at least a total week, not be done in blocks of a couple of days. In other words, if his normal week is 40 hours and for several days you're scheduling 10 hour days, I'd still use the 8 hour day in calculating FMLA.