FMLA Policy
Franklin
20 Posts
We are upgrading our employee manual and were told to expand our FMLA information. Do we need to list a specific time frame for an employee to notify us of the need for FMLA. Also Is FMLA "renewable" in the next year?
Comments
Welcome to the forum if you would like I can e-mail or fax a copy of our FMLA policy in our handbook which was recently updated.
You have asked a couple of good questions. The notification of the need is as soon as possible. The ER can ask for a reasonable notification, but must accomodate the emergency. So if you called for 30 days notice, you would have to waive that requirement for cases where notice was not possible.
There is also a 15 day clock that can run if you request medical certification from the EEs provider(s) in order to determine if the event qualifies as FML.
Renewable also has some choices. You can measure these things on rolling year or a consecutive 12 months or on a calendar year. There are pros and cons to all the methods. I personally like the "rolling year" method which can prevent the usage from happening back to back.
Consider a calendar year option and say the EE has a qualifying medical condition that has them out from October through the end of December. Then January 1st, a new year starts and they can take an additional 12 weeks. In effect you can have them out 24 weeks in a row, which can be great for the EE but present quite a hardship for the ER.
PORK