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IRS Issues Guidance FAQs Regarding the Paid Family Leave Federal Tax Credit

By Megan G. Holstein on Posted in: FMLA, Leave, Paid Sick Leave, Pregnancy
This week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued FAQ guidance regarding the employer tax credit for paid family and medical leave. As a reminder, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Act) provides a tax credit to employers that voluntarily offer paid family and/or medical leave to employees. The FAQs clarify some of … Continue Reading

Are You Preparing for Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave?

By Megan G. Holstein on Posted in: FMLA, Leave, Paid Sick Leave
By the end of this year, employers with employees in the state of Washington must be ready to comply with last summer’s newly-enacted a paid family and medical leave law. Since the law’s passage, Washington has been busy fine-tuning the program and providing updates. Recently, Washington announced that employers with employees in the state of … Continue Reading

Must an Employer Pay for Frequent FMLA Breaks?

By Megan G. Holstein on Posted in: FMLA, Leave, Uncategorized
Is it compensable time when an employee takes frequent, 15-minute breaks each hour due to the employee’s serious health condition? Today, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) answered this question in a hot-off-the-press opinion letter, verifying that FMLA-covered breaks are not compensable. In today’s opinion letter, the DOL confirmed that frequent, 15-minute breaks taken … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Declines Review of ADA Leave Obligations

By Whitney P. Cooney on Posted in: ADA, Disability Accommodation, Leave
Sometimes the actions a court doesn’t take can have a very big impact. The Supreme Court’s April 2, 2018 decision not to review a recent Seventh Circuit ruling is just one of the cases. In Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc., a widely-publicized decision relating to the availability of extended leave as a reasonable accommodation under … Continue Reading

Donations Not Accepted – ADA Does Not Require Continued Use of Leave Donation Program

By Tasos C. Paindiris on Posted in: ADA, Disability Accommodation, Leave
Many employers have programs allowing employees to donate their own time off to another employee with serious medical or family issues.  A dilemma often faced by employers with these policies is whether continued use of such donated time means the employee is not performing the essential function of attendance.  On the one hand, the employee … Continue Reading

Louisiana Court of Appeals Highlights the Need For Clear Vacation Policies

By Heather C. Panick on Posted in: Leave, Uncategorized
The Louisiana Court of Appeals—Fourth Circuit, recently overturned a trial court’s determination that an employee of a pest control company was not entitled to the payout of his accrued, but unused, vacation leave. Contrary to the findings of the trial court, the Court found that the terms of the policy were ambiguous and therefore, the … Continue Reading

Are you covered by the Federal Paid Sick Leave Law for Federal Contractors?

By Megan G. Holstein and Laura A. Mitchell on Posted in: Leave, Paid Sick Leave
As paid sick leave laws continue to pass across the nation, as recently seen in Austin, Texas, employers have focused on complying with the various state and local jurisdictions’ paid sick leave requirements . However, employers may forget, or might have to totally missed, that there is a federal paid sick leave law. Executive Order … Continue Reading

Could Your Parental Leave Policy Be Considered Sex Discrimination?

By Tiffany A. Buckley-Norwood on Posted in: EEOC Guidance, Leave, Pregnancy
With the increase in the number of states that require various types of paid leave, now is a good time to examine your leave policies.  While often overlooked, one policy that could expose an employer to liability is its maternity leave or parental leave policy.   As the EEOC’s Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues … Continue Reading

Changes to ERISA’s Disability Claims Regulations Coming April 1

By Megan G. Holstein on Posted in: ERISA, Leave
Employers who offer short-term and long-term disability plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and their plan administrators, need to prepare for the approaching April 1st deadline of the new claims handling regulations.  Employer action items can be found in our article posted here. The ERISA regulations were effective January 2017, but were delayed until … Continue Reading

What Am I Doing Wrong?? Common FMLA Mistakes

By Sheri L. Giger and Jenna M. Decker on Posted in: FMLA, Leave
“What did I do wrong?” and “Am I doing this correctly?” are frequent questions from clients regarding FMLA administration.  This is the twelfth in a series highlighting some of the more common mistakes employers can inadvertently make regarding FMLA administration. Not adequately investigating a potential FMLA abuse situation to put the employer in a stronger … Continue Reading

New California Disability and Leave Laws – Are You Ready for 2018?

By Susan E. Groff and Suzetty Shen on Posted in: California Compliance, Leave
With the turn of the year comes a wave of new California disability and leave laws.  Employers should review their existing policies and procedures to determine if they will be in compliance with these new laws—many of which will go into effect on January 1: Parental Leave:  California will expand parental leave to small employers.  … Continue Reading

Extending Leave Was Not A Reasonable Accommodation Under The ADA Where There Was A Lack Of “Certainty” About Return To Work Date

By Tasos C. Paindiris on Posted in: ADA, Disability Accommodation, FMLA, Leave
While employers generally accept that they cannot apply a maximum leave period after which employees are automatically terminated, they continue to struggle with how much leave must be provided as a form of accommodation under the ADA.  There is little dispute that leave for an indefinite period where the employee has a long term chronic … Continue Reading

Prior Entitlement to FMLA Leave Is Not A Free Ticket To Miss Work For Non-FMLA Covered Reasons

By Heather C. Panick on Posted in: ADA, FMLA, Leave
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania recently upheld an employer’s decision to terminate an employee under its policy against excessive absenteeism, in spite of the fact that the former employee had previously taken leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), because the absences at issue were not related to … Continue Reading

What Am I Doing Wrong?? Common FMLA Mistakes

By Sheri L. Giger and Bryant Andrews on Posted in: FMLA, Leave
“What did I do wrong?” and “Am I doing this correctly?” are frequent questions from clients regarding FMLA administration. This is the eleventh in a series highlighting some of the more common mistakes employers can inadvertently make regarding FMLA administration. Not properly considering when a medical recertification can, and should, be requested when an employee … Continue Reading

Seventh Circuit Holds that the ADA Is Still Not a Leave Statute

By Jody Kahn Mason on Posted in: ADA, Disability Accommodation, Leave
On October 17, 2017, on the heels of its landmark decision in Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the employer in its unpublished opinion in Golden v. Indianapolis Housing Agency, No. 17-1359 (7th Cir. Oct. 17, 2017), reiterating that “[a]n employee who needs long-term medical leave…is not a ‘qualified … Continue Reading

Seventh Circuit Clarifies ADA is Not a Leave Statute

By Jody Kahn Mason on Posted in: ADA, Disability Accommodation, EEOC Guidance, Leave
On September 20, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a significant opinion for employers in Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc., No. 15-3754 (7th Cir. Sept. 20, 2017), holding that “[t]he ADA is an antidiscrimination statute, not a medical-leave entitlement.”  The Seventh Circuit joins the Tenth Circuit in rejecting the EEOC’s … Continue Reading

Governor Brown Has Another Opportunity to Expand Parental Leave to Small Businesses in California

By Susan E. Groff and Benjamin A. Tulis on Posted in: California Compliance, Leave
The New Parent Leave Act has made it to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk awaiting his signature or veto. This bill would mean significant expansion of parental leave for small employers in California. It is uncertain whether Governor Brown will sign the bill into law after vetoing a similar bill almost a year ago.… Continue Reading

Employer’s Enforcement of Its Call-In Policy Was Reasonable Vis-à-Vis a Disabled Employee

By Susan E. Groff and Christopher Habashy on Posted in: California Compliance, Leave, Uncategorized
Employers frequently struggle with enforcement of call-in and job abandonment policies when there has been a lack of communication by a disabled employee. In Alejandro v. ST Micro Electronics (N.D. Cal.) 178 F.Supp.3d 850, the court offers a favorable ruling for employers seeking to enforce such a policy respective to a disabled employee who had … Continue Reading

What Should I Tell Employees on Leave About Their FMLA Usage? Everything!

By Katrin U. Schatz on Posted in: ADA, FMLA, Leave
When it comes to FMLA leave administration, “don’t sweat the details” is rarely a wise axiom.  Details matter.  A lot.  A recent decision by an Illinois federal court reinforces that lesson.  In March 2015, Amanda Dusik contacted her employer, Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS), to request time off for knee surgery.  She explained that, … Continue Reading

Are You Coming In Today? An FMLA Intermittent Leave Toolkit

By Teresa Burke Wright on Posted in: FMLA, Leave
            Intermittent leave continues to present some of the most exasperating FMLA issues. In March, the San Diego-based Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC) issued a white paper showing the findings of its annual 2016 Employer Leave Management Survey, which involved 1,132 U.S. employers of all sizes. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), … Continue Reading
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