According Business Management Daily Editorial Director, Pat DiDomenico, “Nowadays, managing employee leave has almost become a full-time job for HR and supervisors.”
DiDomenico adds, “Consider how many types of employee leave employers might have to address on any given day…vacation time, sick time, FMLA and more. On top of these issues are the states’ various leave laws on everything from jury duty, voting, school visitation and family/medical leave to time off for victims of domestic violence.”
Here are four solutions to common human resource employee leave issues:
1. Time Off as ADA Accommodation. Problem: The employer is struggling to decide how much time off to allow a disabled employee as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. You’re not alone—it’s one of HR’s trickiest issues. Solution: Determine how much time off the employee would need in order to return and perform the job’s essential functions and whether it would create an undue hardship to hold the position open that long.
2. Pregnancy and Maternity Leave. Problem: When an employee announces she’s pregnant, the employer may be happy for her personally but worried about the resulting implications for scheduling, employee retention and leave issues—not to mention the potential lawsuit risks. Solution: Make sure there’s a legally sound pregnancy/maternity leave policy in place, as well as an action plan for keeping workflow disruption to a minimum.
3. FMLA Intermittent Leave. Problem: An employee is taking FMLA intermittent leave at a moment’s notice, and the employer is beginning to question her real motivation. Solution: Require medical certification (in the legally smart way) to prove her leave request is legitimate. Also, track intermittent leave in the smallest units your timekeeping system allows.
4. Absenteeism and Sick Leave. Problem: The costs of employee absenteeism—
DiDomenico adds, “Use this special report on leave-coordination strategies to help you keep disruption and liability to an absolute minimum in your workplace.”
DiDomenico concludes, “While this book deals with federal employment laws, make sure you double-check your individual state’s laws on employee leave issues. In the book’s Appendix you’ll find a contact list of all the state labor departments. Also, you can access states specific information on the National Conference of State Legislatures’
For more information on the book, ‘Employee Leave: Your 8 Biggest Problems Solved’, visit http://www.amazon.com/
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