FMLA Call In

LindaS

I have an employee who has been approved for intermittent leave due to a chronic health condition. Last week Thursday he came to me and told me he would be in to work for a couple of hours on Friday AM then would need to leave for a doctor's appt. due to his condition.

Instead of reporting to work on Friday he contacted his supervisor and told him that he overslept and would not be in at all and wanted the whole day as FMLA.

My thought is that those first couple of hours should be considered as an absence under our attendance policy but want your opinions.

LivindonSouth

I agree. I would also have told him (and others) that the company expects them to make appointments toward the end of their day or shift. Not surprisingly, most people seem to take a whole day off for a doctor's appointment, like they are entitled to it. The FMLA entitlement mentality has succeeded.




Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.

HRLASS

We have had this problem before and determined two avenues. One, deal with it as an absence under the policy which leads to discipline which can be tricky under intermittent FMLA leave. Two, intermittent or otherwise, he gets 12 weeks of FMLA leave. If you track it as FMLA leave the leave expires earlier and 10-to-1 the same absence problems will occur and you will then be able to deal with them as performance problems without FMLA complications. This can make some supervisors impatient, but as I explained, they're going to get the 12 week "entitlement"; let them use it up fast if that's what they choose to do instead of using it when they appropriately need it. When it's up, it's up.

Also, our company has a 3-hour maximum allowance for doctor's appts (including transportation) that will be paid, and after that employees are either docked or they have to come up with a good documented reason why not. (Exempts are monitored for abuse as they can't be docked.) The ones who always push the envelope always schedule for the full 3 hours, the others go at the beginning or end of the day whenever possible.