Ear Aches

T

I have an ee who often misses work to take her young child to the doctor with ear aches, she always brings a note from the doctor. The ee has exhausted all of her accrued time off and we are now ready to start progressive discipline on her attendance issues.

Is an ear ache considered a serious illness?

Whether the ee is covered under the FMLA or not, can I move her to a position where her attendance is not as crucial?

Thanks.

Down_the_Middle

DOL has previously ruled that with the exception of "complications", an earache will not normally be viewed as FMLA eligible.

T

Do you know how the DOL defines "complications"? or where I can get more information on this.

This ee has just missed another day and a half for this.

Can I at least move her to another position where I have more back up in the case of absence.

She misses an average of 2 days per month.

Thanks for your help.

Down_the_Middle

The bet examples of complications that I can offer include: hospitalization, intensive office visit therapy (daily or multi-times daily), pre-surgical assessment, etc.... Unless these are occuring, I'd ask the employee for MD verfication to support the need for the FMLA and see what you get. Being prone to earaches and having them frequently is not an eligible health condition. i would resolve the FMLA elgibility b/4 haphazardly re-assigning the employee or proceeding with absenteeism discipline. In all probability, the absences are not FMLA eligible, but it's a grave mistake to assume they are not eligible, proceed with discipline and then learn otherwise. If your desire to transfer her to another position is based on the am't of disruption to the org vs.a personal irritation, you may have a basis to do so.

T

Thanks for the reply.

Definitely the move to another dept. would be pro company and not based on personal irritation. However, I think I will have the supervisor let the ee know that any more days missed will result in being moved to the other department. One good thing is the position move is not a demotion or a cut in pay but only a lateral transfer.

Thanks.