Question from Chris a Machinist

I was approved by my company for FMLA in Feb.2011 and they told me that it would last till Feb. 2012. I was told today that it had been canceled until I get another paper signed by my doctor. They said that they were going to do this to everyone. They said that they would make everyone resign every 30 days!! Is this leagell?

Is it legal for your employer to request medical certification from your doctor for FMLA, it certainly is! The employer needs to give the employee a minimum of 15 days to get the certificate and most doctors don’t mind filling them our (or having their assistant fill it out). This is done in part to protect the employer from people who stub their toe and want to take 12 weeks off for their new condition.

Remember, FMLA is for 12 weeks of unpaid leave, if your employer is stating you have a full year, you might be receiving additional benefits that require a medical certificate. If you feel they are treating you unfairly, speak with an attorney, document the dates you began your leave and how much time you were given and ask your doctor to complete a new certificate to stay in compliance.

We’re all getting older. Unfortunately, that statement is so true, and the implication for employers is significant.

In 1995, 33.6 million Americans were over the age of 65 and by 2005 that number will exceed 40 million. The fastest growing population in the U.S. is the “old-old” (those over 85). As our population ages, there is a greater need for personal care. In 1994, 25% of our elderly population required some form of daily assistance.

So who is providing this assistance? Nursing homes? In fact, only about 20% of our elderly are in nursing homes. The rest rely upon family members and the vast majority of these care givers are women. What is more amazing is that 64% of these women also hold either full or part-time jobs. And, if that wasn’t enough, nearly a majority of them also care for children under the age of 18.

What is the implication of this on the workplace? What “condition” are these caregivers in when they come to work every day? As employers, what can you do to assist them?

The impact on employers is significant. With employees faced with the dual demands of family and work, there will be increased tardiness and absenteeism. Employees will be working less hours and sick leave benefits will be used at a greater rate. A recent the Wall Street Journal survey reports that employees feel entitled to take this time off. Beyond the issue of attendance, we can expect to see a rise in early resignations, and retirements and a decline in worker productivity.

So what can employers do to address this issue? What assistance can they provide?

Employees are faced with difficult choices. How can they balance work with the need to provide care for their families? This issue creates tremendous stress that does not go away when employees arrive at work.

Employers can do much to ease the pressure and in some cases, can even provide some solutions. Elder care referral services is a tremendous, inexpensive benefit. Local community service organizations are more than willing to work with employers and their employees to help them during this period. Unfortunately, according to a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, only 14% of employers are utilizing such a benefit.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are another tool to help employees. EAPs can both assist in finding eldercare services as well as helping employees deal with the stresses and psychological impact of this enormous burden.

Employers must also look at their leave policies. The Family and Medical Leave and Massachusetts’ Small Necessities Leave provide legally mandated relief for workers. However, these leaves are unpaid and employers may be able to restructure their benefit plans to begin providing paid leave.

Finally, employers are going to be forced to provide workers with greater flexibility in their work schedules to accommodate those who are care givers or they will run the risk of losing them. This means adjustments to current policies and procedures, as well as training and educating managers to deal with employees faced with this issue.

The reality of an aging population is here. Employers must work closely with their employees to find solutions to this societal problem.

Rick Dacri is an organizational development consultant, coach and featured speaker at regional and national conferences. Since 1995 his firm, Dacri & Associates (http://www.dacri.com) has focused on improving the performance of individuals and organizations. Rick publishes a monthly newsletter, the Dacri Report (http://www.dacri.com/enewsletter.htm) with the intent to provide clients and friends critical information on issues that impact them, their organization and their employees. Rick can be reached at 1-800-892-9828, or rick@dacri.com.

Author: Rick Dacri
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Buying Camera in US, Pick up at Canadian border

With a aging workforce employees are now being faced with how to care for elderly parents while still maintaining employment. Elderly care can often times mean that someone is needed all day every day, making it extremely difficult for children to care for their parents while working. The Family Medical Leave Act provides some help in this respect, an employee can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for parents who have serious health conditions, obviously if the parent is unable to take care of their own person to the point they need 24 hour assistance it would likely be a qualifying medical condition.

While the leave is unpaid the employee is given time to attend to the parent and help in this difficult time, after the 12 weeks are completed the employee would need to return to work, but they would be able to return to the same or similar job and health benefits would be maintained while on leave.

An employee might also want to check with their employer about intermittent FMLA leave, where the employee would be given time off to attend to a serious medical condition for their parent, that way the employee could keep working and leave as needed by the parent.

Some employers offer dependent care assistance programs, flexible scheduling such as flextime, compressed workweek, job-sharing, part-time employment and telecommuting, and long term care insurance to assist in these times. Check with your employer to see if these benefits are available.

In a recent question I was asked an employee reported to me after they had been fired after taking Family Medical Leave (FMLA). The employee had just had a baby and took 6 weeks before the baby was born due to bed rest required by her doctor, then 6 weeks after the baby was born to recover. Her employer wanted her to return after the 12 weeks had ended, when she was notified of the return to work date she requested an additional 9 days for personal reasons, the employer refused that request and instructed her that if she didn’t return on the day they indicated they would consider it a voluntary quit.

The employee did not return to work on her scheduled date and was told that they could no longer hold the job and they accepted her voluntary quit.

Did the employer violate her rights for FMLA?

FMLA allows for an employee to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, the employer gave her the alloted time off and allowed her to return to work after the 12 weeks had expired. While the employee made a request for additional time the employer is not bound to grant additional time, with some exceptions for disabilities (contact an attorney if you are in that situation). The employee should have returned to work after her leave expired in order to keep her job.

There are many different aspects to each person’s story, don’t assume that this is the right answer for your case, if you need to talk to someone about your FMLA situation or if you need help with FMLA and your employer contact an attorney that specializes in employment law, you can get the help you need! You can also contact your state’s department of labor for answers to questions and help filing a claim.

Thanks for visiting fmla-rules.com!