Doctor-ordered breaks
smeyer
2 Posts
We have a 40 hour per week employee who was injured outside of work several months ago. As part of the FMLA process, we received certification from her health care provider verifying the need for a reduced work schedule (can work no more than 4 hours per day) as a result of her condition. In addition, the health care provider indicated the need for a 15 minute break each hour.
Under Washington law, employees shall be allowed a rest period of not less than 10 minutes, on the employer's time, for each 4 hours of working time. Are we obligated to pay for each break taken as a result of her health care provider's instructions?
Comments
I'm not 100% sure, but the breaks may count as intermittent FMLA leave during which you would not need to pay the employee. If it is a disability issue, then you may need to pay her.
If the employee wants to use paid time off/vacation/sick time during breaks and/or to fill out her hours for complete pay, be careful about certification requests. If the person is using some form of paid leave, you cannot ask them things that you would not normally ask for if the person were using that form of leave without FMLA. We modified our PTO and vacation policies accordingly. Also be aware that you cannot contest a re-cert, so if you think there is anything fishy going on, challenge the initial cert.