“Damn you, Department of Labor! It’s 12:00:01 on March 8, 2013. I keep refreshing this stupid site and nothing is happening! I NEED FORMS!!!!”
— Absolutely no one in HR.
Actually, the forms have been available for some time now, slacker.
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
Consequently, part-time employees generally do not qualify for FMLA leave because they do not meet the 1,250-hour requirement.
However, a new bill introduced last month in the U.S. House of Representatives would change that if signed into law. It’s called the Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act of 2013 and you can download a copy of it here.
Yesterday, we addressed (here) the possibility of Congress taking up paid sick leave shortly.
Now, there is word that the Parental Bereavement Act, last considered in 2011 as an amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act, is back on the table.
Last week, in this press release, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), announced that he and and Congressman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) will champion the effort to change the FMLA to allow parents grieving from the death of their son or daughter to receive up to 12 weeks of job-protected time-off.
Coming soon, so says Senator Tom Harkin here.
Known as the “Healthy Families Act,” this bill was introduced in the House in 2009, and again in both the House and Senate in 2011, but never got much traction.
But now, in addition to Senator Harkin, former President Bill Clinton is stumping for paid FMLA.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com
I have three kids, ages three and under. So a vacation for me is the half hour of quiet time I get in the bathroom every morning.
It’s not like the old days.
I remember Spring Break ’97 in the Bahamas. Sun, beach, water sports, and a couple of adult beverages.
It was kinda like the Mexican vacation that Carol Lineberry, a former employee of Detroit Medical Center, took back in 2011. These pictures she posted on Facebook — we didn’t have Facebook back in the day, so I’ll deny everything. EVERYTHING! — show that Ms. Lineberry is having a blast in Mexico.
Did I mention that Lineberry took this trip while taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act? Of course, she did. And now she’s on The Employer Handbook.
See how that works? Like a Zoolander gasoline fight, trust me, this won’t end well for Lineberry. No, it won’t.
Read more after the jump…
Before going any further, allow me to wish a Happy Belated 20th Birthday to the Family and Medical Leave Act.
What can I say? I plumb forgot. To atone, I got Fammy Med a Walkman. (Kids, that’s what we used to listen to music in 1993. It doesn’t walk and it’s not a man. But it did play my mix tapes — sigh).
Next year, to celebrate the big 2-1, drinks are on me. Sizzurpbombs! Remy Martin Cognac Louis XIII.
Three easy ways to tackle FMLA issues, without having to call someone like me. I’ll explain after the jump…
*Do I need a disclaimer? Do I?
What a year for The Employer Handbook in 2012! I’m most pleased that, in our second year of existence, readership more than doubled. Although, sadly, the one 2011 reader I had from Papua New Guinea never returned in 2012. I hope she is ok. Yeah, she’s ok.
So, what did my readers enjoy most in 2012? Well, apparently, y’all like Polka music. Why else would this be the most-clicked item on The Employer Handbook? What a strange cultured bunch!
Today we have a guest blogger at The Employer Handbook. It’s one of my fave employment lawyers from Twitter, Chuck Lawson.
Chuck is a member of the Labor and Employment group at Grant Konvalinka & Harrison, P.C., where he specializes in all phases of the employer-employee relationship, including wage and hour, FMLA, ADA, unemployment compensation, and discrimination/harassment law.
After the jump, Chuck is going to school you on some FMLA pitfalls that can trip up even the best employers — and how to avoid them (the pitfalls, that is).
(Want to guest blog at The Employer Handbook? Holla at ya boy).
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That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”
The Family and Medical Leave Act permits employees to take leave on an intermittent basis or to work a reduced schedule under certain circumstances, such as caring for a parent with a serious health condition. Intermittent leave can be days, hours, or even minutes off of work. Indeed, when an employee takes FMLA leave on an intermittent or reduced leave schedule basis, the employer must account for the leave using an increment no greater than the shortest period of time that the employer uses to account for use of other forms of leave provided that it is not greater than one hour and provided further that an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement may not be reduced by more than the amount of leave actually taken.
When employees use minutes of intermittent FMLA, it’s generally in the form of early dismissals or late arrivals to work. But what about FMLA leave during breaks and lunches, when the employee never actually leaves the office? Can that time be used for intermittent FMLA leave?
The Employer Handbook Blog