Another year in the books—hope 2025 was a big win for your team!For some, and hopefully all of you, you are ready to pay out year-end bonuses as the final pennies are counted for the year. In the meantime, however, you’ve debated with your bean counters whether you can prorate or deny of a bonus to an employee who has taken, let’s say, 10 weeks of FMLA leave this year. Ten weeks of FMLA leave seems like a lot. And it probably impacted the number of gold-plated widgets your employee made this year. So, can you prorate or even deny…
Continue Reading As You Prepare Payment on Those Year-End Bonuses and Wonder Whether You Pay the Guy Who Took FMLA Leave, Read This First

Today is my birthday! Yay for me! To celebrate, I am inviting you to a five-day FMLA & ADA Party!This ain’t no joke. Join me for five days (13-hours!) at an interactive master class that will have you singing FMLA and ADA from the mountaintops! What’s in Store?Think case studies, real-world examples, 2025 – 2026 case law, and yes – plenty of corny Jeff/dad humor. By the end, you’ll master the critical components of the FMLA and ADA and become more comfortable with managing an employee with a medical condition.Due to popular demand, I have added a fifth day to this…
Continue Reading Join Me for My Annual FMLA & ADA Master Class: The 2026 Edition!

Join me for my annual FMLA/ADA webinar, which comes to you, as always, free of charge. This year’s webinar focuses on how employers can proactively guard against misuse of FMLA and ADA leave. And there will be singing, plenty of singing.When: Thursday, December 11, 2025 (12:00 – 1:15 p.m. central time)Online registration: Click hereThe reasons for (suspicious use of) FMLA leave get more creative each year.  Like the guy who said he was helping his wife at home with IVF treatments…but the employer knew his wife wasn’t at home. We’ll tell you about him and how they knew he…
Continue Reading Join Me for a Webinar: “It’s Not Called the Friday and Monday Leave Act! Effective Ways to Protect your Organization Against Misuse of FMLA and ADA Leave”

John always sat in the same spot in the same pew, positioned about 50 feet from the side entrance of the church. Deep in prayer, a rosary wrapped around his left hand, John would lift his head and turn toward me as I entered that side door every Friday morning. With a slight nod of his head and a warm smile, he made me feel welcome. That’s all it took. A nod and a smile.For the past six months, John has been noticeably absent from Friday morning Mass. Last week, we received the difficult news, as the priest announced that…
Continue Reading When an Employee Requests Leave from Work, It’s Easy to Respond with Cynicism. Next Time, Respond with Kindness.

Yesterday, the US Department of Labor resurrected its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program, which encourages employers to own up to potential minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and resolve them at an early opportunity.

For the first time in history, the DOL is extending this program to potential violations under the Family and Medical Leave Act as well.

As several of my Littler colleagues explain in this thorough analysis, the PAID program is summarized in a couple steps:

• The Employer conducts a self-audit to identify potential FLSA or FMLA violations.
• The Employer then

…
Continue Reading The DOL is Asking Employers to Self-Report FMLA Violations to the Federal Government. Will Even One Employer Take the Bait?

There must be something in the water in EmployerLand, USA.

On multiple occasions lately, employers have confessed frustration to me with the lack of information provided by an employee’s physician in an FMLA medical certification or in support of an ADA accommodation.

But their next line is always troubling: “So, Jeff, I just picked up the phone and called the doctor directly with a few of our questions about the form.”

[Cringe]

Friends, whether it’s an FMLA or ADA situation, employers must follow very specific rules when communicating directly with an employee’s physician about the employee’s medical condition. They start…
Continue Reading Employers, Before You Pick Up the Phone to Call an Employer’s Physician, Put it on Hold

A funny thing happened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers everywhere sent their employees home to work, many of whom will work forever more out of their home or remote worksite, never to see the Company headquarters again.

Coming out of the pandemic, some employers have drastically scaled back their brick-and-mortar headquarters. Others have ditched the company HQ, replacing it with a modest store front or even a Post Office Box. [All you Gen Z peeps: if you are wondering what a “Post Office box” is, ask your parents!]

As remote work cements itself into the fabric of…
Continue Reading Is Your Remote Employee Eligible for FMLA Leave When Working from Home?

What are we craving right now?

The Rule of Law!

Let me tell you, the American Bar Association delivered this past week!

Every spring, the ABA’s Labor and Employment Section Wage and Hour Committee publishes a comprehensive report of FMLA decisions handed down by the federal courts in the previous year. Although our little FMLA blog catches some of the key FMLA cases as they occur throughout the year, the ABA’s annual report includes every FMLA decision issued in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2024.

Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

This year’s report was just released and can be accessed here …
Continue Reading A Winter Treat! The ABA’s Summary of 2024 FMLA Court Decisions Has Arrived.

Week after week, it seems, a new city or state enacts its own paid leave law of some sort.

For employers obligated to comply with the federal FMLA and these local leave laws, it’s death by a thousand paper cuts.

These paid leave laws come in all shapes and sizes. Many of them permit leave for circumstances that may be qualifying FMLA leave reasons as well. Some define qualifying family members more broadly than the FMLA (e.g., grandparents or parents-in-law). Some provide leave for a different set of health conditions, and others provide a leave period longer or shorter than…
Continue Reading DOL Sheds Light on Administering FMLA Leave When an Absence Triggers Both FMLA and State Paid Leave Laws

Let me share a story about Celestia, who requested a few weeks of FMLA leave to care for her sister who was dying from cancer.

Celestia was a finance manager at Midwest Auto Group (known as “MAG”), a car dealership that peddles luxury cars.

What follows, though, is a total used-car salesman move.

The Facts

Celestia’s sister, Sharon, battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma and, upon learning the disease was terminal, Sharon asked Celestia to be her “primary caregiver” in her final days.

In those next few weeks, Celestia cared for her sister in a variety of ways. Notably, she:

• Paid some of

…
Continue Reading No Sibling Rivalry Here: Court Green Lights Potential FMLA Leave for Siblings

Join me for my annual FMLA/ADA webinar, which comes to you, as always, free of charge.

This year, due to overwhelming demand, we’re covering remote work as an ADA accommodation.

When: Wednesday, December 11, 2024 (12:00 – 1:15 p.m. central time)

Online registration: Click Here to register

As employers increasingly require employees to return to the office, remote work accommodation requests have followed. After having sent many of their employees’ home to work during the pandemic, employers now face an onslaught of remote work requests. During the pandemic, employers wondered whether the pandemic would make remote work a permanent “thing”…
Continue Reading Join Me for a Free Webinar: Remote Control? Managing Remote Work Requests in a Changed Workforce