Articles Posted in Family and Medical Leave

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Back in the day, the mere promise of Cheerios and chocolate milk was all it took to dupe my two oldest kids (then three and five) to shovel the driveway for a few hours. Come to think of it, I preferred the stick to the carrot. So I probably threatened to cancel Nickelodeon and, with that, all vestiges of Yo Gabba Gabba. Either way, the children were too young and naive to ask for minimum wage or form a union. So, they shoveled snow.

Fortunately, the littlest one — salting the walkway out of frame — lacked the manual dexterity to call the NJ Department of Labor on me.

Ah, the good ‘ol days. Continue reading

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Chances are, if one of your employees complained externally about discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was all up in your company’s business. Perhaps your business has had the not-so-good fortune of undergoing a Fair Labor Standards Act or Family and Medical Leave Act audit from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Late last week, the two federal watchdogs announced a partnership. Continue reading

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At a bench trial in a Virginia federal court in 2021, with only a Family and Medical Leave Act interference at stake, the judge concluded, “[I]t’s obvious that there is definitely liability because there was clearly a violation of the FMLA. I mean, there’s just no question about it.”

But when the plaintiff asked the court to award her front and back pay, it denied her any relief in connection with the defendant’s failure to promote her after returning from medical leave.

Huh?

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In early 2020, an employee at a global food supplier left work early with flu-like symptoms. That day she obtained a doctor’s note recommending that she “stay out of work for three days, from February 19-21, 2020.” The employee requested to have five days off to recuperate. However, the note said nothing about her inability to work beyond those three days. Her employer terminated her on February 21.

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On June 16, 2017, an employer issued furlough notices to employees at its West Virginia facility. Over the following weeks, 65 or so employees submitted forms requesting to take medical leave based on claimed minor soft-tissue injuries sustained while off duty. The forms were similar in content; all were signed by one of two chiropractors, and all called for a medical leave of eight weeks or more.

What would you do in that situation? Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
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