Essay on The Impact of Fmla on Human Resources

You get the phone call in the middle of the night. Your son or daughter has been in a serious accident and is hospitalized in critical condition. After several day’s they come home from the hospital with several broken bones and require your around the clock attention for the next eight to twelve weeks. You just got over a serious medical condition yourself which you acquired while on vacation and do not have any vacation time or sick time to take off. Do you have to quit your job? Can your employer terminate you for taking time off to be with your child? What options do you have? What can your employer do for you? Well, the answer lies in the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Employers are limited to what they are allowed to ask and employees are allotted time off before being required to provide medical documentation supporting their request for leave. These gaps in detail in the documentation of the Family Medical Leave Act are giving dishonest employees an opportunity to obtain time off without any due explanation. Sue Sumler from the Manufacturers' Alliance/MAPI explains the problems caused by a vague definition of serious health condition. "Because the definition of a 'Serious Health Condition' is vague, almost any¬one can find a physician to certify that they have a chronic condition that meets the definition. Many of this company's intermittent leaves are for migraine headaches. The physician certifies that migraines may occur at any time. Some employees approved for leave for migraine headaches miss four-five days a month and more. For some, it appears that FMLA has given them an extra 60 days off work."

Kalamazoo County Road Commission (2015), the plaintiff Terry Tilly alleged that the Kalamazoo County Road Commission violated his right to take medical leave provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act. The KCRC’s personnel manual, which definitively advises that the manual serves “a basic guide to basic benefits, working conditions and policies” in part states that, “Employees covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act are full-time employees who have worked for the Road Commission and accumulated 1,250 work hours in the previous 12 months.” There are several statutes that specify a minimum employer size in term of the number of employees in the roster (Walsh, 2013, p. 10). Under section 2611 of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, an employee who works for a company that does not meet the FMLA 50/75-Employee Threshold is not eligible for FMLA (2010). The trial court, therefore, ruled in favor of the Kalamazoo County Road Commission, dismissing Mr. Tilley’s FMLA claim. However, the Court of Appeals would later overturn the dismissal of the case. Although the employer did not meet the FMLA 50/75-Employee Threshold, making Mr. Tilley an ineligible employee under the FMLA, the company’s employee handbook misrepresented his eligibility to apply for FMLA benefits. The manual failed to mention the FMLA 50/75-Employee Threshold, so Mr. Tilley was in fact protected under the FMLA

The company in which employee A works for is considered a covered employer because the company employs more than fifty employees for which is assumed for more than twenty weeks each year. Employee A has worked for the covered employer for two years, which makes him a covered employee based on the given information. Employee A was not required to give advanced notice due to the unforeseen circumstances of the premature birth. Upon employee A’s return, he was given his original job back along with the same rate of pay. Since employee A took leave under the FMLA, his leave is considered unpaid and the eleven weeks of pay are not required to be given to the employee. In the case of employee A, no violation has been committed.

I would recommend Company X create a policy that documents FMLA procedures and clarifies what to expect while on leave (salary and benefits).

An employee took time off due to his wife giving birth prematurely. His requested time off was approved by his original manager as the employee qualified for FMLA since he has been with the company for two years and was for the care of his spouse. Under (1)”FMLA rules certain employees can be provided up to 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave per year. The employee must work for the company at least 12 months, have at least 1250 hours during the 12 months and the where the employee work, the company must employ at least 50 employees within 75 miles”.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted to offer relief and protection to those workers

A vacation of two weeks after 12 months of service and within the following 10 months or, if the employee has been employed with the same employer longer than 8 years, a vacation of at least three weeks

The Family Medical Leave Act or FMLA allows for employees to leave work for a

 An employee must be provided the same level of medical benefits, disability insurance and leave as are offered for other medical conditions or disabilities.

     The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted by Congress on February 5, 1993, and it is public law 103-3. This law allows for a person to leave work in certain situations without losing his/her job. An eligible employees must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and at least completed 1250 hours of service. An employee is able to leave work for up to 12 weeks for any of the following reasons: the employee expects a baby in his/her immediate family, the employee expects an adopted child in his/her immediate family, the employee has to take care of an ill family member which includes spouse, parent or his/her own children, and/or the employee has a serious medical

Employee leave benefits provide benefits, such as health care and salary, during an employee's approved leave from work. Administered by the Wage and Hour Division, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers of 50 or more employees to give up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious illness of the employee or a spouse, child or parent (US Department of

When an employee has a baby they could be eligible for maternity leave and maternity pay. You have the right to maternity leave regardless of how long you've been in your job, how many hours you work, or how much you're paid. This is also the case for antenatal appointments. You are legally entitled to reasonable paid time off to attend antenatal appointments. Employees must take a minimum of 2 weeks off work (or 4 weeks if they are a factory worker).

Due to my employer being a government agency, I have dealt with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on several occasions. According to Berman (2016), “These FMLA provisions apply to private employers with at least 40 employees and all government agencies (local, state, and federal), as well as elementary and secondary schools, regardless of the number of employees” (p. 306). Typically, our officers utilize this for the birth or adoption of a child, and sometimes for personal or family medical issues.

The most popular form of time off is vacation time, this is typically a time that has to be scheduled off in advance and the time allotted is determined based on employee seniority. The amount of vacation an employee may receive is determined by many factors in the company such as the industry, organization size and locale. Companies tend to offer one to two weeks for employees after they have had a position for one year, and once the position has been held for five or more years the employee will receive an additional allotment of scheduled time off. Paid holidays are nationally observed holidays such as New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; an employee would normally get this day off with pay or if asked to work would receive additional compensation for working on the holiday. Sick time is for the unexpected time of illness and is generally something that an employee would have to "call out" for, thus notifying their manager that they will not make it to work for that day. Sick time consists of one week or forty hours and can be scattered through out the year. (Bohlander 479) FMLA or Family Medical Leave of Absence is considered an excused absence in the event there is an illness in the family or a health condition with ones self, and the birth of a child. FMLA is something that is doctor approved and an employee obtains a certain amount of hours to use per year. FMLA can be an option that you are not