FMLA Weeked Call Off

Can someone cite the section of the Act that states weekend call offs can be required make up time? I remember this from a seminar - but I cannot find it by searching.

Be well.

Comments

  • 15 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • I've read the Act pretty much wall to wall many times and do not recall seeing that. I'll stand by for others who may have though.
  • Ditto!! There's a lot of superfluous items in the REGS, but I've never run across anything like this.
  • Don't recall anything even remotely akin to this notion, so no help here.
  • I've looked through my notes from the seminar. I guess I was mistaken - I can't find a reference to it either. Thanks.
  • Can you elaborate a little about your work situation?
  • NETRN: Maybe we are not understanding what you are referencing as "weekend call offs can be required makeup time". Maybe you might be referencing what days in relationship to FMLA that could be included as an FMLA situation. If your company is in business and operating on week-ends, these days may be counted as part of an FMLA intermittent schedule. Otherwise, I do not catch a relationship with FMLA and "weekend call offs".

    PORK
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-20-05 AT 08:19PM (CST)[/font][br][br]We are a 24-hour operation. If an employee calls off during a weekend shift (Sat or Sun) we ask that the employe "make-up the day" by scheduling an additional weekend on the next schedule. This make-up is not additional time (we work 12-hour shifts) it is an additional weekend - so instead of one weekend per schedule the employee must work 1.5 or 2.0 weekends during the 4-week schedule (depending on the number of weekend days off).

    Please let me know if this is clear - it is hard to put down in words.

    Be well.
  • What you are doing is perfectly acceptable and perfectly legal. It violates no FMLA or any other regulations. People miss work and they can be required to make it up. Period. Keep up the good work. Post often.
  • NETRN: Now, how does that tie in with your FMLA concerns? Are you asking me the employee, who uses FMLA hours out for treatment, as justifiable reason to be away from the work site, to make up the hours used for the FMLA during the week-end?

    It would appear on the surface that you are helping the ee to achieve a greater number of hours for pay purposes and the ee will be thankful for that. If the company is doing this to somehow punish the employee for being out on FMLA, that would not be recommended.

    PORK


  • These last two posts are making me feel better. I’ve been doing this for the last 5 years. I treat each employee the same when it concerns call offs. I track all weekend call offs and do immediate follow-up. I have the employee makeup the time on the next schedule and stipulate that it must not be overtime – it must be all regular shifts.

    Thank you for your help.

  • I get that people can be required to make up for missed work. I don't get that it may not be an OT situation.

    If you work more than 40 hours in a work week, and you are non-exempt - OT should be paid, right?


  • I'm wondering if this whole post should be FLSA-related instead of FMLA. So many abbreviations we use every day, sometimes they get mixed up?
  • NETRN: But, how does that tie into the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? You should use all hours worked for the calculation of eligibility for FMLA. Hours worked in one week are just that, for pay purposes. In a given work-week you may reschedule work within that work week; but you can not reschedule hours not worked in this work weeek with hours to be worked next week. Hours worked next week whether made-up or scheduled are the same, but may be counted as O/T if the accumulation exceeds 40 hours.

    5 years of this practice might be costly to the company. If you have not been paying for "all hours worked in a pay week", because those hours were missed last week because they were out for FMLA purposes; then, I suggest you seek out the most knowledgable HR/PAYROLL person in your community and get advice on the specifics of your situation. Something is a disconnect and I'm not sure if it is us not understanding or is it that we are not able to understand what you have posted.

    In either case, I recommend you get someone you know in the HR field to come visit and listen to your concerns and questions on this HR arena.

    PORK



  • I think we are off track from my original question. Why I posted this under FMLA is because I require weekend makeup days for all call offs including FMLA (intermittent leave). I do not adjust the work week schedule – I ask the employee to schedule an additional weekend on the next four-week schedule, but the week should only equal 36 hours.

    The question posed to me was “how can you make me do this, I’m using FMLA?” Our interpretation of the Act is that you cannot ‘punish’ an employee for using the guaranteed time (such as applying disciplinary actions for FMLA as if it were a normal call off). We also extrapolated from the Act that an employee must be fair and consistent – making all employees makeup missed weekend days is being fair and consistent without punishment.

    I hope this again clears the fog of my posts.

  • That is more clear than I originally understood.

    A couple of comments.

    Your EEs are now working 3 - 12 hour shifts during a work week. So you are doing some sort of revolving rotation (like 3 days on, 5 days off)so that one weekend day is scheduled for every 4 weeks? Then when a weekend is missed, you rotate the schedule so that an additional weekend is on the 4 week schedule, still holding the EE to the 36 hour schedule.

    One observation, the scheduling complexity must be a nightmare to administer with frequent call offs. My hat is off to your scheduler, or your scheduling software.

    I will say that you have brought forward a cogent arguement, but I would think it difficult to apply to any FML leave, except intermittent leave.

    Just to try and clarify further, if an EE is out sick (FML or not) for a period of say - 2 work weeks - and that causes the EE to miss one or two days of weekend work, you then require that EE to schedule additional weekend work during the next 4 week period?


    It looks to me like you would rarely, if ever, allow a weekend sick day or a weekend FML day.

    If an EE is out for 12 weeks on FML, do you make them schedule and extra 3 weekend shifts when they come back?

    In that event, it sounds like a penalty to me. I would think it pretty rare that this length of illness would more frequently be FML qualified (except for those EEs under 1 year of service), and a case could be made for it being viewed as a penalty.
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