The Employer Handbook Blog
New Jersey made it easier for employers to comply with displaying official posters from the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR). Continue reading
Articles Posted in Family and Medical Leave
I’ve got free educational resources for new mothers in the workplace (and their employers)
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a series of August events highlighting the importance of maternal health and workplace protections for expectant and new mothers to mark National Breastfeeding Month. Continue reading
How to fire an employee right after his FMLA expires . . . and win the retaliation lawsuit.
Hey, don’t judge me. You’re just as heartless reading this as I am writing it.
The anatomy of an FMLA interference claim
An employer fires an employee after the company has approved him for intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The employee begins taking leave in separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason. Then, the employer fires the employee. So the employee claims FMLA interference.
What exactly is FMLA interference? How does an employee prove it? And what are some defenses? Continue reading
Does FMLA cover leave for abortion? What about in states where it’s illegal?
The ink was barely dry on the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization when the U.S. Department of Labor released a statement in which the agency confirmed that it would continue “empowering women using every tool” available. Continue reading
Short of denying leave, an employer can still violate the FMLA just by discouraging someone from taking it
Two posts in one week about interference with Family and Medical Leave Act rights. Continue reading
The FMLA does not require clairvoyance
“Clairvoyance,” that’s a 10th-grade word. Let me Google it just in case.
Ok, we’re good. Continue reading
Five ways that employers botch FMLA for mental health conditions (and how to get it right instead)
May is Mental Health Month. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act, just dropped some additional resources for workers on their rights to take leave for serious mental health conditions and for employers to better understand how to comply with the FMLA.
Why did this company seemingly offer FMLA leave to an employee it planned to fire?
Last night, I went through my Google Drive of older cases about which I had intended to blog but never gotten around to it. And I found this Fifth Circuit Family and Medical Leave Act decision involving a company that fired an employee two months into his leave.
The issue was whether the employee had sufficiently pled causes of action for FMLA interference and retaliation. Continue reading
195,000 reasons to remember that state family leave laws don’t always track the FMLA
If you operate a business in a state that has a family and medical leave law, be careful when that state law does not overlap precisely with the Family and Medical Leave Act. Continue reading