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Placing ee on disability

LeslieCLeslieC 204 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down
We have a long term employee who has a history of hospitalizations for depression. She was a "no show" back in Sept for a week. The only contact we received was a cryptic phone call from a nurse telling me the ee was in the hospital. When ee returned to work after that ( one week later) I met with her and discussed that she needs to set up a system with a family member or friend who can contact us when she cannot to let us know her status. She agreed.
Last Monday ( 8 days ago) I recieved a phone call from ee's mom indicating that ee was back in hospital for depression and should be back in a week. We have heard nothing since then and ee is not back.
What can we do?
Can I place her on disability? Can I hire someone to do her work? Can I relieve her from her job as of tomorrow for a 3 day no call / no show ? ( We do NOT want to do that. She is a valued member of our company for 15 years. We dont want to let her go, but we need to get her work done.)
Any /all advice greatly appreciated.
If we can place her on disability and hire someone to her work, then when she returns do we have to provide her with the same salary she had when she left? She is very well paid, and we may not have something comparable.

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Comments

  • 2 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • WhateverWhatever 1,945 Posts
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    When you were informed that she was hospitalized, you should have sent her disability papers. Furthermore, if she is eligible under FMLA (and I don't know the size of your company), you should have sent her the FMLA paperwork. And, if she is eligible, you cannot replace her or lower her pay.
    However, and this is a big however, what is the company's policy re calling in. Whatever it is, it must be uniformly applied.
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  • Brad ForristerBrad Forrister 297 Posts
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    In fact, if she's been hospitalized for this several times, FMLA always applied, and you could have had the clock running long ago.

    Also, I'd be careful about terminating her for failure to call in while she's hospitalized for depression. I can't find it at the moment, but I remember a case with facts similar to this in which such a termination was found to be a FMLA violation.


    Brad Forrister
    VP/Content
    M. Lee Smith Publishers


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