Chronic illness causing absences by employee not covered under FMLA .

indhr01

An employee is missing more and moreworkdays due to her having MS. The organization only has 41 employees so doesnot meet the threshold for FMLA. If the attendance policy is followed, she willbe terminated. We would like to be kind to her but her absences are impactingother employees who must pick up her workload. What options, if any might weconsider other than termination based on the attendance/disciplinary policy?

TXHRGuy

[quote user="indhr01"]

An employee is missing more and moreworkdays due to her having MS. The organization only has 41 employees so doesnot meet the threshold for FMLA. If the attendance policy is followed, she willbe terminated. We would like to be kind to her but her absences are impactingother employees who must pick up her workload. What options, if any might weconsider other than termination based on the attendance/disciplinary policy?

[/quote]

 

Is 41 headcount total for your whole organization or for your specific location, including contract and temp workers?

At the very least, it's time to enter into an ADA accomodation discussion.  what is the nature of her job?

indhr01

Yes, 41 is total employees.  I've checked the JAN website regarding accommodation.  Thank you.

TXHRGuy

[quote user="indhr01"]Yes, 41 is total employees.  I've checked the JAN website regarding accommodation.  Thank you.[/quote]

 

Problem resolved?

indhr01

Yes, I received some excellent information from the network and we can work with the employee.  

TXHRGuy

Good.  The website you used is good and a lot of times we can avoid uncomfortable compliance/risk-avoidance questions through thoughtful accommodation without just caving in on everything, either.