Employers need to be careful not to reach certain conclusions too quickly based on the issued DOL opinion letters.
President Obama has announced he intends to propose major changes to the white-collar exemptions and has directed the Department of Labor to propose revisions to “modernize and streamline” current FLSA regulations. The draft regulations were originally expected in October 2014. The DOL then released a date of February 2015. We are now in March of 2015, and we are still waiting for any changes to be announced.
I am pleased to share with you an article I recently wrote for Employee Benefit News on leaves of absence policies. To learn more about avoiding mistakes in administering your organization’s leaves of absence policy, join us for our October 2, 2014 Webinar: Top 10 Leave of Absence Policy Mistakes.
Employers are well aware of the increased risk of implementing an adverse action (e.g., suspension, termination of employment) in the face of an employee’s claim for FMLA leave. Defending against such claims depends upon being able to demonstrate the legitimate, nondiscriminatory basis for the adverse action. At times, however, the close proximity of the adverse action to the employee’s FMLA request is difficult to overcome.
FMLA leave or an employee’s family vacation? Sometimes it is tough for an employer to tell.