Applying CFRA/FMLA leave laws can be tricky. How can you be sure you’re applying the correct California and federal laws – and in the correct order? You want to stay in compliance, as well as be sensitive to your employees’ needs, but you also don’t want to keep approving leave...

Do you have employees requesting to take a leave of absence for a serious health condition? Do you know your obligations under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Do your employees know their own rights and responsibilities? In a CER webinar titled "Leave Management in California: The Rx for...

What are the most common types of FMLA abuse? Do you have employees who might be abusing the FMLA system? In a CER webinar titled "Stop FMLA/CFRA Abuse: 10 Ways Employers Are Combating Chronic Call-Ins and Fraud," Marc L. Jacuzzi, Esq., differentiated between suspected abuse versus fraudulent...

Neither the workers’ compensation law nor the disability laws contain specific rules for intermittent leave like the family and medical leave laws do. As a result, employers are sometimes confused about whether an employee who either is not eligible for family and medical leave or has exhausted...

For employers, one of the most frustrating aspects of family and medical leaves is guarding against employee abuse of intermittent and reduced-schedule leaves. Often, an employee will call in or request to leave early, citing the need to take approved intermittent leave, when the employee’s serious...

A spa director sued for pregnancy discrimination after she allegedly was pressured to resign following her leave for postpartum depression. The employer asked the court to compel arbitration in accordance with an arbitration provision in the employment application. Was the arbitration agreement enforceable...

In a CER webinar titled "FMLA, ADA, and California Workers’ Comp Overlap: Overcoming New Compliance Conflicts," Jennifer K. Achtert and Todd B. Scherwin outlined some of the differences between the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)/ California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and other leaves...

Consider the employee who’s always out on Mondays, Fridays, or the days before and after holidays. Suspicious? Perhaps. But what to do about it? Marc Koonin, an attorney with the San Francisco office of Sedgwick, LLP, spells out some of your options. For Koonin’s tips from yesterday, click...

A consistent employer complaint in administering the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) is the tendency of certain employees to abuse intermittent leave taken to care for their own or a family member’s serious health condition—and the difficulty...

The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period to recover from their own serious health condition, among other things. But what if an employee takes more than 12 weeks of leave? The California Court of Appeal recently answered...

"Are you kidding me?" is bound to be the response of many CEOs to the concept of unlimited vacation. But many others are taking a careful look at the benefits (see yesterday's CED ) and accepting the risks (read on). Risks of Unlimited Vacation Although unlimited vacation has many benefits...

Should you jump on the bandwagon of unlimited vacation? It's touted as a good way to reward employees without increasing costs. However, it's not without its pitfalls. The concept of unlimited vacation is very simple: Employees can take vacation, personal, and sick time (anything that would fit...

Handling employee requests for time off because of illness, injury, or a disability is undoubtedly one of the most difficult — and frustrating — parts of your job. A complicated array of state and federal laws governing family leave, workers' compensation, and disability accommodation...

A surprising survey shows that many companies simply don't track their paid-time-off (PTO) programs, even though the cost may be as high as health care. Potential savings from better management: millions. Employee: "Boss, I don't feel well. I'd like to stay home but I'm not sure...

You have an employee on intermittent FMLA/CFRA leave — and you suspect that he's abusing it. He's developed a pattern of absences on Mondays, Fridays, and the days before and after holidays. He insists on scheduling doctor's appointments with zero regard for your company's coverage...

If you can avoid medical problems through preventive medicine, can you do the same for legal problems? There's a whole community of lawyers who think so. These days, businesses are spending millions of dollars on wellness initiatives, in an effort to cut healthcare costs by stopping medical troubles...

An HR consultant who used to be a line manager describes the services he needed most ... and least ... from his HR partners. In preparing CED , we read a lot of material by outside HR consultants. It's good stuff, but because most have always been HR professionals, their view is largely from one...

Yesterday , we ran down attorney Kevin Troutman's first five threats and traps for HR managers; today, three more. Plus, an introduction to this fall's California Employment Law Update conference — time's running out to save! Troutman, who is a partner at Fisher &Phillips LLP, blogged...

Trying to comply with the myriad of HR-related laws is tricky enough, but recent developments have opened the door to new legal hazards, says attorney Kevin Troutman. And there's no grace period - be in compliance now or face time-consuming and costly investigations and litigation. Troutman, who...

Yesterday , we looked at the first three phases of family leave notice you're required to provide your employees under the FMLA guidelines. Today, the fourth, plus an introduction to a comprehensive, fully updated resource on leaves — specifically for California employers — you'll...