supv on STD - wants to work from home

hr traci · June 2005

I think I am on the right track with this, just looking for input. We have an office supervisor out on STD right now, following surgery. She asked her dr. to give her a note that she can work from home, and she wants to be able to do computer work from home while still on leave.

I believe she should not be working from home (she is salaried) since the original STD paperwork had said she could not work at all for 6 weeks. Aren't we opening ourselves up to liability if we allow her to work at all? (the 2nd dr. note about working from home does not give any time or duty restrictions).

The employee means well, wanting to help out anyway she can. I am also concerned about how the STD payment would conflict ( we are self-funded for STD )

Looking for your advice.

thanks!

Kiwi · June 2005

If she's working from home, you'd have to pay her salary. What that does to the STD payment would depend on the language in your plan. Our STD is self-funded and it would cut out if the ee is earning wages from working. If FMLA is in the picture, you'd need to adjust what gets counted as FMLA based on what time is spent working at home. I would also be concerned about the liability unless the dr is specific about the time and duties issues.

dchr9203 · June 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-15-05 AT 04:22PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Sanctioning her working from home is the same as her returning to work and would normally stop STD benefits. If she were non-exempt, you would have to pay her for the hours she worked. We do not allow telecommuting under normal circumstances anyway, so this would not be allowed in our environment. I would recommend against allowing her to "work from home" during her recuperation period.

hr traci · June 2005

Thanks for your input. I did notify the ee that she will not be able to work from home. She is being returned to work 2 weeks earlier than expected anyways, so she doesn't have that much time left on her hands.

lorrie · June 2005

We have had this situation before, and our STD is also self-funded. After thinking it all through, we decided that the risk outweighed the benefits, and told the employee to concentrate on healing - no work from home. I think the only time I would change that response is if the person was truly indespensible for the length of time needed, and most of us don't fall into that category.

HRCalico · June 2005

Look to your right and left, Traci, do you see a rock on one side and a hard place on the other? :>) I think you have two options, with the third already thrown out (it's the easy one) which is to blame it on your STD company. Since that's YOU, you're out of luck.

You can 1) deny the telecommuting, tell her to heal up and come back when the doc says she's ready or

2) temporarily and officially adjust her duties, schedule, and salary to fit what she can do.

Do you even have computer work she can do at home?

Geno · June 2005

traci,

"Aren't we opening ourselves up to liability if we allow her to work at all?"

In many instances the answer can be yes – when the “workplace” is no longer the “workplace,” a variety of liability issues present themselves. At the very least you should know/consider that if/when you allow an employee to work from home, the employee’s home can become their workplace for worker comp and other third-party liability purposes. Think about all of the things employers do to insure a safe work environment on their own premises. Now think about how much control the employer has over safety and environmental issues at the employee’s home – practically none. An accident at home while doing business for you and you may well be held liable. Did I even mention confidentially and software licensing issues?

At the very, very least, employers contemplating allowing employees the option of working from home should, for their own protection, engage competent legal council in the preparation of a written telecommuting policy/agreement.

Geno, SPHR

Rockie · June 2005

Traci: We don't allow employees to work from home if they are on medical leave. In our case, their STD would be affected by their wages being deducted from the amount they receive from STD. The employee probably does not know this and that would change their feelings about working from home.

We often have people on FMLA who want to work from home and this very much complicates matters in tracking, etc. It is also difficult to monitor how many hours they are actually working if they are hourly people. It would be easier with salaried people.

supv on STD - wants to work from home

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