The Family and Medical Leave Act[1] has been in place for decades, but employers continue to grapple with a host of challenging issues. Each season presents a surprisingly large number of court opinions explaining what employers did right or wrong with regard to leave administration.
While employers can always cheer for fellow employer victories, or lament their losses, no opinion should go unheeded for the lesson it teaches. With that admonition, this article presents three lessons learned from recent court cases.
The first involves notice of the need for leave, the second lesson teaches when to designate leaves, once there is notice, and the third teaches how to avoid statements which mistakenly afford FMLA rights to employees that are otherwise unentitled, or in legal parlance, understanding estoppel in the FMLA context. This spring, employers should learn their lessons well, and work hard to ensure proper leave administration.
Continue Reading "New Opinions Highlight 3 FMLA Issues to Avoid."
