Late everyday - claims FMLA

nohr4u1yr · April 2005

Good morning!

I have an employee that over the past month has been late coming into work anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes late. She is claiming she is late due to FMLA reasons. I feel that she is just late.

Is there anything I can do to question her or get any clarification from her doctor?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all have a great day!

Don D · April 2005

Unless the tardies are covered in the fmla certification and specifically allowed in the intermittent understanding between employer and employee, then they are just tardies and are subject to your attendance policy.

I can't imagine that being tardy would be in your agreement of understanding when you approved intermittent; but, I would have to know the details of the certification and the conversation.

Geno · April 2005

nohr4u1yr,

Question: "Is there anything I can do to question her or get any clarification from her doctor"?

Answer: Yes. Some employees think that the term FMLA is a "get-out-of-jail-free-card." Forutunately, you are not required to take the employee's word for it. The employer is allowed to require the employee to verify a claim of a serious health condition that is prompting the need for, in your case, intermittent leave. This applies to the employee or the employee's spouse, child or parent. Go to the website below, download a copy of the form, and have the employee take it to the appropriate health care provider for completion. If and until the employee provides medical certification, treat the situation as you would any other attendance/tardy problem-employee.

Assuming that your company is covered by the Act and that the employee in question is eligible for FMLA leave, your question betrays the fact that your FMLA policies and procedures may need a review. Might be a good time to take a good look at your company's FMLA and attendance policies and procedures so when this or similar situations happen in the future (and they will) you will know what to do, and your employees will know what is expected of them.

[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fmla/wh380.pdf[/url]

Geno

nohr4u1yr · April 2005

She is covered under FMLA - I just think it's a little strange that she is coming in late EVERYDAY stating his her "chronic sinusitus". But I could be wrong.

She is receiving treatment and was referred to a specialist. I do recertify my employees and she is up for recertification.

Can/should I count 6 mintues as FMLA time used or is that up to us? If it is up to us I know I need to update our policy to reflect a minimum time limit to be used.

This is the first time I have had someone use (or try to use) under 30 minutes everyday. And it is ALWAYS in the morning.

Looking forward to your response.

Geno · April 2005

I believe that the rule of thumb is that an employee can request and use intermittent leave in an amount equal to the smallest segment of time that the employer historically tracks time for pay purposes, i.e., 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.

Geno

lorrie · April 2005

Unless her doctor specifically states that she needs this type of 'tardiness flexibility' then you should NOT count it as FMLA, and DO count it against your attendance policy.

If her doctor says she needs intermittent, then there should be some type of schedule that you both agree to. I don't think the employer is obligated to accommodate this type of activity unless the doctor can show it is truly necessary for the major illness she is experiencing.

Also, it seems that you can specify that certain blocks of time be used, at least in 15-minute increments. I can't imagine that you would have to track time in 6-minute or other odd-amount increments.

I would certainly do more checking into this and not allow it, if at all possible.

pork1 · April 2005

NOHR4U1YR: At what point in your HR world of work did this ee get the idea that she "makes claim of tardiness as being FMLA conditional"? EEs make application for FMLA before the fact and we employer's approve or disapprove based on certification by a treating physician and it is all documented and in the case of intermittent it is scheduled before the fact and not after.

You should be following your attendance policy and looking forward to replacing this ee.

PORK

hhaynal · April 2005

Pork,

We have an employee with a child's certified FMLA on record that requires intermittent leave. A lot of times supervisor gets call late in the evening or early the next morning from employee stating "at hospital with kid, won't be in, mark against FMLA leave." We struggled with balancing "wanting the intermittent leave scheduled ahead of time" vs "reality, a call on a moment's notice."

What is your handling in such a situation?

Don D · April 2005

In more instances than not, intermittent leave cannot be scheduled because it cannot be anticipated.

pork1 · April 2005

HHAYNAL: A little more information gives a little different take. An EE who already has an approved intermittent leave situation documented then allows you to accept the ee's call to charge his time away for "care giving" to FMLA would be handled with care but, positively. The time out would be marked for FMLA, given that circumstance then the ee must also tell us if he chooses to take sick time for pay, vacation time for pay or PTO w/o pay.

Contrary to some of our forum members, most of our intermittent FMLA for an ee has been "as scheduled" for medical treatment. It is normally scheduled, at our request for the afternoon hours and usually for the entire 4 hours available for work. We have found most physician's do try to accomodate the ee and his/her employer with care in the afternoon. This includes parenting time off for "care giving" to an ill family member.

As long as everyone,(concerned with the subject FMLA,) knows the rules and how to play the system for the betterment of all concerned we do not seem to have these types of issue arise!

PORK

Late everyday - claims FMLA

Comments