fmla-rules.com answer

Perhaps a call to a local attorney would be in order for this situation. Your employer can’t retaliate against you for taking FMLA and if the chiropractor you saw was indeed a medical doctor who required that you take the time off from work for this serious medical condition, then your employer may have broken the law.

FMLA-rules.com answer

The quick answer is, no. FMLA allows for up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for a serious medical condition. That is up to 12 weeks, usually in a 12 month period. Once you have used the 12 weeks you would have to wait 12 months before you can begin using FMLA again.

FMLA-Rules.com answer

Unfortunately the Family Medical Leave Act applies to companies with 50 or more employees and many other laws require 15 to 20 employees. What your employer did isn’t ethical by any means, but he didn’t violate FMLA because it doesn’t apply to his business, however it might be worth a call to an attorney to be sure he hasn’t violated any civil laws.

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.

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
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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.

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.

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Here are the basics:
An eligible employee can use up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave.
Benefits are required to be maintained while on leave, though the employee may still be responsible to pay their portion of premiums.
Once the medical condition is cleared up the employee should be able to return to the job you were doing before you left or to a job with similar responsibilities and pay.

In 2009 the act was amended to include military personnel:
An eligible employee who is a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness can take up to a total of 26 workweeks of unpaid leave during a “single 12-month period” to care for the service member.
A covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during the normal 12-month period established by the employer for FMLA leave for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty, in support of a contingency operation.

Am I a “qualified employee”?

To be considered a qualified employee you must have worked for the employee for 12 months and have worked a minimum of 1250 hours over the last 12 months.

Is my employer covered?

For your employer to be required to offer FMLA they will have to have at least 50 employees working within a 75 mile radius of each other. If your employer has less than 50 employees they may still offer FMLA, if they do they become bound by the same rules and expectations of the law even though they weren’t originally required to.

As an employee you are also protected for taking FMLA, if your employer takes action against you and the primary reason for doing so is because you took leave you may have a claim against the employer and should consult with an attorney to ensure you rights haven’t been violated.

I did some looking at several sites and found that that topic has been addressed by the department of labor. Essentially they look at cosmetic surgery as a routine medical condition, not a serious medical condition. With a serious medical condition someone can use FMLA to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to recover, but cosmetic surgery is included in such items as cold, headaches and routine medical and dental care and are not covered under the act.

Interesting information, here is the exert from the dol website link below:

“Medical and disability-related leave rules: Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of leave for treatment of or recovery from serious health conditions. The FMLA’s definition of a serious health condition is broader than the definition of a disability, encompassing pregnancy and many illnesses, injuries, impairments, or physical or mental conditions that require multiple treatments and intermittent absences. Generally, things like cosmetic surgery, colds, headaches, and routine medical and dental care are not included. FMLA leave is unpaid, but employers may require employees to concurrently take paid leave, such as accrued vacation or sick leave, or employees may elect to do so.

http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/employ.htm