Requiring Vacation for Intermittent FML

KP68

Just out of curiousity, does anyone out there charge vacation only for intermittent family medical leaves (and not for continuous)?

SMace

We charge vacation for anything besides being out for their own serious health condition. They are allowed to keep one week.

KP68

Really? That's interesting. Do you find that it helps "curb" abuse of intermittent FML?

SMace

No. It does limit their time away from work. They cannot intermittent all year and then take a vacation.

Don D

If I'm not mistaken, the law says you cannot charge the employee with vacation for his/her own medical condition approved for FMLA.

SMace

I thought you could for intermittent. I'll take a look at the regs again.

Balloonman

Don't know what the law says, but I worked for a company that required you to use any paid time off you had while on FMLA. The thinking, and I agreed, was we dont want to give them 13 weeks off then be able to have them take 2,3, or even 4 weeks vacation on top of that.
My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman

KP68

Our concern on this (charging vacation for all types of FML) - as pointed out to us by legal counsel, is that this could be interpreted as 'penalizing' someone for taking FMLA, as we don't require any other leaves to use vacation time (disability, work comp, etc.). Therefore, we thought we found a loophole around this interpretation by only charging it for intermittent, or leaves that are less than five days in a row, and not attaching it specifically to FMLA leaves only.

Did anyone ever find out if the regs state that employers cannot charge vacation for the employees SHC? I never heard that before, but considering what we are talking about, that isn't a surprise. 8-|

Don D

I must have been thinking about a union contract at my prior job that only allowed us to require the taking of vacation if the FMLA were for purposes other than the ee's personal health. 29 CFR 825.207(e) states,

"Paid vacation or personal leave, including leave earned or accrued under plans allowing 'paid time off', may be substituted, at either the employee's or the employer's option, for any qualified FMLA leave. No limitations may be placed by the employer on substitution of paid vacation or personal leave for these purposes."