The recent Tenth Circuit decision in Hwang v. Kansas State University upholding the employer’s inflexible leave policy causes one to ponder the logic of leave as an accommodation under the ADA in a broader sense. When contemplating such issue, the “oxymoronic anomaly” relating to this issue comes to the fore. Just what is this anomaly?
Neither Godot Nor EEOC ADA Leave Guidance Likely to Arrive in 2014
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In June 2011, the EEOC held a public hearing on leave as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and suggested it might issue guidance on the topic. We posted previously that waiting for that guidance is like waiting for Beckett’s Godot, where those waiting come to the realization at the end of each day that…
Toward a State Model Leave Law
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in Leave
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 Faced with a “three-decade-old body of law, featuring nine antidiscrimination laws” which some described as “outdated, fragmented, inconsistent, inadequate, inaccessible, and at times incomprehensible,” a research team in 2000 recommended a single equality act, according to a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
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in Leave
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…
Minnesota Expands Employee’s Right to Use Sick Leave
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in 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
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in Leave
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
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in Leave
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…
“Can’t Be On Call Tonight, Dad’s in ER” Not a Request for FMLA Leave
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in FMLA
An employee’s text message to her supervisor telling him that she could not be on call that night because her father was in the emergency room was not a request for FMLA leave. Lanier v. Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (5th Cir. June 12, 2013). Affirming summary judgment for the employer, the court said…
“I am Resigning” is Not a Request for FMLA Leave
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in FMLA
Is a resignation a request for FMLA leave? Of course not most would say, but it depends on whether you ascribe to words their plain meanings. One of the more well-known exchanges concerning the meaning of words occurred between Humpty Dumpty and Alice in "Through the Looking Glass."
“When I use a word…‘it means just…
FMLA Leave: Pre-Post Protected; Pre-Pre Not
By Jackson Lewis P.C. on
Posted in ADA
Are employees who request FMLA leave before they are eligible for the leave entitled to the protections of the FMLA? It depends on whether the employee requesting leave will be eligible at the time of the leave.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the FMLA protects a pre-eligibility request for post-eligibility leave.