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

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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

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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

Meet Ray.

Ray is to the FMLA as Patrick Mahomes is to football. Ray is an FMLA pro, having taken FMLA leave a total of 158 times over three years. No joke. F-M-L-A simply rolled off Ray’s tongue, enabling him to take leave on countless occasions.

As the story goes, Ray started his latest FMLA journey with a three-week leave of absence for pneumonia.

Ray worked as a mechanic, regularly operating and repairing the loin-puller machine for his employer, Swift Pork Company. Ray must have loved that loin-puller machine, since he got really salty upon his return to work when…
Continue Reading When an Employee Abruptly Requests FMLA Leave after Being Given a Sucky Work Assignment, Can He Safely Be Terminated?

The wheels are turning, aren’t they?

This question is another arising out of a webinar I recently conducted with EEOC Legal Counsel Carol Miaskoff and Tracie DeFreitas (Job Accommodation Network) regarding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).

A few weeks back, I addressed whether FMLA medical certification could be requested from an employee who seeks leave due to pregnancy limitations.

Now, let’s talk breaks for lactation. And bottles.

In our webinar, the following question was asked:

We have an employee whose baby will not take a bottle. Does the PWFA require accommodations that will enable the mother to leave…
Continue Reading Can an Employee Take Leave from Work for Lactation Breaks When the Baby Won’t Take a Bottle?