No employer wants to deal with compliance violations, especially when they have to do with the rights of their employees. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your FMLA administration is fully covered. In addition to the protection it gives employers, it also helps ensure employees are able to use these rights when they need them.
Do you know your FMLA policy?
Some employers fail to form any kind of FMLA policy at all, and this tends to be a major FMLA misstep. Under FMLA rules, employers have the power to lay down the ground rules for certain FMLA policies. This gives them agency in the way their FMLA leave is administered.
Among these is the method used to measure 12 months of FMLA leave, which can be done with either a fiscal year or a calendar year. FMLA employment law entitles employees to as much as 12 weeks of leave within a period of 12 months. The catch is that it’s up to the employer whether a calendar year is used or if you roll backward 12 months starting from the first day of leave.
If an employer doesn’t set the terms for the method of calculation used to determine this 12-month period, the employee can pick the method that best works to their advantage. This might not work best for the employer since it can result in 12 weeks at the end of one calendar year and another 12 at the start of the next.
Two required forms of notification
Some employers fail to let their employees know what their FMLA rights are. This might be because they make the false assumption that the people who work for them are already aware of the rights that FMLA entitles them to, which is often not the case.
There are two ways that employers have to notify workers of their rights under FMLA. For one, these rights must be posted at all places of business. Additionally, employees must be notified of these rights upon being hired.
It’s essential that employers know their FMLA policy. They should also ensure their FMLA leave rights are posted in the two mandatory forms of notification.
