It’s a scenario that frustrates many employers. An employee with extensive intermittent FMLA absences, possibly including absences for different covered reasons, is also absent for many unspecified or unprotected reasons which lead to progressive discipline. The employee’s absences eventually reach the point of warranting termination and the employee does not provide additional medical information to
Leave Policies
Toward a State Model Leave Law
Perhaps we should take a lesson from the UK. Faced with a “three-decade-old body of law, featuring nine antidiscrimination laws” which some described as “outdated, fragmented, inconsistent, inadequate, inaccessible, and at times incomprehensible,” a research team in 2000 recommended a single equality act, according to a recent Vanderbilt Law Review article. That single equality…
Jersey City Adds Another Patch to the Paid Sick Leave Patchwork
And then there were seven. Seven patches in the developing “paid sick leave” patchwork that we presaged months ago. It started with San Francisco in 2007. Then the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Seattle, Portland, OR, and NYC . Now, add the Jersey City, N.J. patch.
The Jersey City variation…
Family Flight Fuels Frisco Family Friendly Workplace Law
Billed as a measure to deter more “family flight” from San Francisco, the City’s Board of Supervisors have passed an ordinance giving employees who are caretakers or parents the “right to request” flexible or predictable work schedules. The mayor has indicated he will sign the ordinance into law.
San Francisco has the lowest percentage of…
Minnesota Expands Employee’s Right to Use Sick Leave
Minnesota has amended its Minnesota Parenting Leave Act to give employees the right to use sick leave for an expanded group of family members in addition to the employee’s child. Effective August 1, 2013, an employee may use personal sick leave benefits for absences due to an illness of or injury to the employee’s “adult…
NYC Adds Another Patch to the Paid Sick Leave Patchwork
Add the New York City patch to the patchwork of paid sick leave laws developing around the country. We wrote about this development in an earlier post.
The NYC law, called the Earned Sick Time Act, was passed June 27, 2013, when the New York City Council overrode the mayor’s veto of the…
Florida Governor Puts Kibosh on Local Leave Laws
Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill that puts the kibosh on local leave and attendance laws. House Bill 655 prevents Florida’s political subdivisions from requiring private employers to provide employees with disability, sick leave or “personal necessity” benefits, among others.
In a statement, Governor Scott said: "This bill fosters statewide uniformity, consistency and predictability…
Florida Legislature Puts Kibosh on Local Leave Laws
Florida may join Wisconsin and Indiana in putting the kibosh on local leave and attendance laws in their states. On May 2, 2013, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 655, which prevents Florida’s political subdivisions from requiring private employers to provide employees with disability, sick leave or “personal necessity” benefits, among others. The bill,…
A Mega Leave-and-Attendance Patchwork on its Way!
If you look out toward the leave-and-attendance legislation horizon, and you might have to squint a bit but not much, you can see yet another patchwork beginning to take shape. This one is on paid sick days. Multi-state employers need to watch this carefully since it is certainly heading for full-fledged “patchwork” status which, when …
Paid Sick Leave Laws: Truth in Consequences?
Miles’ Law, named for Rufus Miles, a chief in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget in the 1940’s, states that “where you stand depends on where you sit.” That law certainly applies to paid sick leave legislation.
Advocates tout that everyone will benefit, including businesses. For example, Portland, Oregon recently enacted an ordinance requiring sick time…