Comments on: Could employee extend medical leave — without telling the employer?

By: Megan

Megan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:48:11 +0000

FMLA, if properly administered, protects employees who truly need the leave (and rights it guarentees) and it keeps the employer from loosing a valuable employee. A good employee will return to an employer that works with their need for leave and the employee will help the employer maintain a good public image and possibly refer equally skilled employees to the workplace.

Anyone who has been in HR or Operations knows that a poor performer will eventually be released from service. It’s just a matter of documenting everything thoroughly enough to justify releasing a person from service. The fact that a poor performer qualifies for FMLA leave could be an explination why a person is a poor performer and through seeking treatment they are able to return to the company as an asset rather than dead weight. Regardless of leave–if a company has a poor performer they should be documenting the poor performance with the employee and continually documenting any continuing performance discrepancies that occur during the approved leave (if intermittent) or the employees inability to provide certification for the leave (from a treating health care professional). Poor performers can be fired when on FMLA leave or immediately upon return–it’s up to HR and management to ensure all the ducks are in a row.

Milton and Virginia: instead of lambasting FMLA why not try to properly administer FMLA leaves so that if you have a poor performer you can get rid of them for the poor performance or for fraudulently taking FMLA leave rather than requesting or taking a legitimate FMLA leave. I have form letters that assist me with this and we also ask that employees update us on a monthly basis regarding their leave certification and provide form letter documentation that continually informs the employee of how many hours/days they have left in their leave and what the needs and expectations are of the employee while on leave and in order to sucessfully return to work following their leave.

In addition to this be thankful you are not in California where CFRA (similar to FMLA) may extend the protected time available to an employee and certainly qualifies more employees for protected leaves of absence. I know that I’m thankful I don’t work for either of you as your views on leave of absence leave much to be desired in my opinion.

By: Shayla

Shayla — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:55:40 +0000

I can say that there are plenty of people out there that abuse FMLA, I probably use to work with a few before I got into the HR field. The bottom line is that having a negative attitude about it is so wrong. While there are so many abusers, there are many more that really truly need it, like a person who needs Cancer treatments, or a person whose parent has a fatal illness. I am really appalled at the attitudes of both Milton and Virginia. Regardless of what we might think people are really doing with their FMLA, as an HR Professional, it is our job to make sure that the law is upheld within our business and to maintain a professional disposition at all times.

By: Virginia Miller

Virginia Miller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:20:14 +0000

I agree with Milton FMLA has become like everything else in the system. It started out to help those in need and as he said the slackers and leeches decided to hop on board. And now the lawyers have also found a way to make more money and tie the court system up with unnecessary evil. Wake up people its all about the almighty dollar. Work less and get more.

By: Dyan Anderson

Dyan Anderson — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:48:28 +0000

Milton: I agree with Laura, your attitude towards FMLA is totally unprofessional. Most people who need this benefit are ill or has a family member who is ill and need their assistance. I don’t understand how you could be so cynical about a law that protects employee’s rights to take time off from the workplace to due a serious health condition. Keep in mind there’s a good reason why federal legislators passed such a law in the first place — I think it probably had to do with employers who think and behave unfairly like you. Shame!

By: Laura Hall

Laura Hall — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:37:59 +0000

Milton, you definitely have the wrong attitude here…. I don’t know how long you’ve been in Human Resources, but it sounds like you’ve stayed too long. Maybe there’s another profession out there for you.

By: Milton Waddams

Milton Waddams — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:27:33 +0000

FMLA is the absolute worst plague to ever befall the modern workplace. It is tailor made for slackers, leeches and problem employees and a cottage industry of bottom feeding lawyers has arisen to support the frivolous claims of these frail souls to make sure their rights aren’t violated. It should be abolished immediately.

Eighty percent or more of employees on FMLA right now could be terminated with little or no resultant loss to the workplace. It’s a drain on resources and a morale killer.

By: jona knight

jona knight — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:22:36 +0000

good to know also!