FMLA and light duty
Bucky333
29 Posts
Hi all,
Can anyone define light duty with respect to FMLA? I am interpreting as more of a job/duty change (i.e., no lifting, typing, etc.) rather than reduced schedule. I have a full time FMLA eligible employee (40 hours per week) with a chronic condition whose physician required a reduced schedule of 50-75%FTE from 1/30 - 6/23/09, using most of the total FMLA hours provided, assuming the reduction of hours counted towards the total hours. She is referencing light duty as her situation and that it does not count towards any FMLA time. This doesn't make sense to me, since it would mean an employee could work a reduced scheduled almost for 12 months, and then another 12 months? Am I missing something? This is the information she sent me as documentation of the light duty definition:
Light Duty: At least two courts have held that an employee uses up his or her 12 week FMLA leave entitlement while on a “light duty” assignment following FMLA leave. Under the final rule time spent performing “light duty” work does not count against an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement and that the employee’s right to restoration is held in abeyance during the period of time the employee performs light duty (or until the end of the applicable 12-month FMLA leave year). If an employee is voluntarily performing a light duty assignment, the employee is not on FMLA leave.
from: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/
Thanks for any guidance,
Comments
Light duty means modifying or substiuting non-essential job functions, or offering a different job during the period of disability so that the employee can continue to work (light duty is explained in the FMLA regulations at 29 CFR Sec. 825.204). The FMLA regulations can be found at http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/toc.htm
The situation you are describing is a textbook description of reduced schedule leave. A reduced schedule leave is a change in the employee's schedule for a period of time, normally from full-time to part-time. See the new FMLA regulations at 29 CFR Sec. 825.800 and 825.202, defining "reduced leave schedule" as "a leave schedule that reduces the usual number of hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an employee."
The 2009 final FMLA regulations make it clear that time spent working in a light duty assignment may not be counted against the employee’s FMLA leave allotment. Whenever an employee performs his or her own job (not a light duty position) for less than a full schedule, the employee is using intermittent or reduced schedule leave and is not performing light duty for purposes of FMLA. Therefore, the reduced hours may count against his or her FMLA leave allotment.
Thanks for your help, I appreciate the clarity and makes sense to me. Now to explain to employee
Happy Labor Day All!
Light duty means modifying or substiuting non-essential job functions, or offering a different job during the period of disability so that the employee can continue to work (light duty is explained in the FMLA regulations at 29 CFR Sec. 825.204). The FMLA regulations can be found at http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/toc.htm
The situation you are describing is a textbook description of reduced schedule leave. A reduced schedule leave is a change in the employee's schedule for a period of time, normally from full-time to part-time. See the new FMLA regulations at 29 CFR Sec. 825.800 and 825.202, defining "reduced leave schedule" as "a leave schedule that reduces the usual number of hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an employee."
The 2009 final FMLA regulations make it clear that time spent working in a light duty assignment may not be counted against the employee’s FMLA leave allotment. Whenever an employee performs his or her own job (not a light duty position) for less than a full schedule, the employee is using intermittent or reduced schedule leave and is not performing light duty for purposes of FMLA. Therefore, the reduced hours may count against his or her FMLA leave allotment.
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