Short Advice on FMLA to the Employers

Attorney’s Short Advice to the employers on FMLA by John Valentine.

From the employer side, what are some best-practices that a company should follow in order to ensure compliance when employees do the request for protected leave?
Ensure that the leave is designated as protected leave or conditionally designated pending medical certification.

What are some of the more common issues that you see when representing your clients, from both the employee and employer standpoint?
On the employee side, common issues include unpaid wages and whether the termination of employment was unlawful. Common issues on the employer side are litigation risk in the particular termination decision and whether there is sufficient documentation to support a termination.

Do you see or anticipate any employment trends that could impact workers or employers in a negative way?
The effort to make workplace bullying illegal could negatively impact employers. Defining what would constitute actionable bullying is a difficult if not impossible task. The trend towards increasing the minimum wage at the municipal level could also negatively impact employers in terms of labor costs.

Rank the following areas of labor law in terms of anticipated impact to the average employee of a large company.

1: Paid Leave
2: Leave of Absence and Accommodations
3: Background Checks and Interview Questions
4: Rules/Regulations Surrounding Social Media
5: Minimum Wage

Why did you rank the area you selected as number 1? Please include your name and email also.

California has taken a small step in this area by requiring at least three days of paid sick leave that an employee can use for their illness or care or the illness or care of family members. Most large employers already meet the minimum requirement for paid sick days, but the expansion of what sick leave can be used for will have a positive impact on employees.

John Valentine
jvalentine@valentinelawla.com