FMLA days out

Ryan

Is there a certain amount of days an employee must be out of work to care for a spouse before they are eligible to use FMLA?

System

Assuming your company is covered under the FMLA, as soon as you find out the employee is absent for the purpose of caring for the spouse, you are responsible for designating that leave as family and medical leave. Designating the leave as FML is in your best interest and in the employee's best interest. You want to start the 12-week clock running as soon as possible to make sure your employee isn't off work more than 12 weeks total in a year. And the employee needs the protection of not having those absences counted against him/her.

As for whether the care the spouse needs qualifies under the FMLA, one of our Employment Law Letters notes: "The FMLA regulations state that the 'care' needed by a family member can encompass both physical and psychological care and even includes instances when the family member is unable to transport himself or herself to the doctor."

For more information, see Friday's HR Tip of the Week on HRhero.com "Little by little: an FMLA intermittent leave primer" at [url]http://www.hrhero.com/headlines/042001/fmla.shtml[/url]

You can access a new HR Tip fo the Week every week via the home page (click Home in the left menu) or look for the link in HR Hero Line every Friday.

You can sign up for HR Hero Line (a free weekly e-mail newsletter on employment law) at [url]http://www.hrhero.com/enewsletter.shtml[/url]

Hope these resources help!