labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A number of the changes to the FMLA regulations that go into effect in January, 2009, favor the employer. These changes and clarifications were made after the U.S. Department of Labor received comments from employers and input from groups such as the Society of Human Resource Management or SHRM.

 

Under the new FMLA or Family and Medical Leave Act regulations, employees are entitled to use any paid leave, including sick leave, vacation and personal leave while on FMLA. However, in order to use the leave, the employee must follow the employers usual policy for requesting the paid time off – even if those requirements are more stringent than the FMLA notice requirements.

 

A major change under the new regulations establishes that employers can deny bonuses, awards or other payments to workers who have not met a specific goal due to FMLA leave.

 

The new regulations also address a few specialized situations encounted by the U.S. Department of Labor. For example, they permit employers to charge an entire missed shift to FMLA even when the employee is absent for only a few minutes – but only in cases where it is physically impossible for the employee to begin the shift late. The example the U.S. Department of Labor uses is when a flight attendant misses the departure of an airplane due to FMLA.

 

Under the 2009 FMLA regulations, employees are still permitted to give less notice than usual under special circumstances, as when an employee has a heart attack on the way to work. However, in the absence of those special circumstances, the employee must comply with the employer’s notice and procedural requirements. This includes following the employer’s usual procedure for reporting an absence, even an FMLA absence. If the employee fails to follow the employer’s usual policy, the FMLA leave can be denied or delayed.

 

The new regulations also permit employers to distribute FMLA notification materials online – something that was not even dreamed of when the law went into effect in 1993.

 

The new regulations also established parameters for leave under the military family leave act, which we will write about in future days.

 

Last 10 posts by Derrick

• H1N1 Quarantine Issues - November 18th, 2009
• Wage and Hour Violators Targeted - November 6th, 2009
• Pennsylvania Child Porn at Work Law - October 21st, 2009
• Timeline for E-Verify - September 30th, 2009
• Minnesota Minimum Wage - September 11th, 2009
• State Minimum Wage Update - September 9th, 2009
• Virginia Minimum Wage - August 10th, 2009
• New Jersey Minimum Wage Increase 2009 - July 13th, 2009
• Idaho Minimum Wage Increase 2009 - July 3rd, 2009
• North Carolina Minimum Wage Increase - June 17th, 2009

1. Posted by: Cathy Clements

   I am not qualfied for FMLA because I work in an office with less than 50 employees. I am expecting my first baby in March but my employer states I can only take off 6 wks. I had heard the law might be changing in January 2009 to get to take more time off.Can you email me of any changes or information in the state of Kentucky

2. Posted by: Amelia

   Hi Cathy! Congrats on being pregnant! The FMLA regulations will change in January 2009. Unfortunately, they still only apply to employers who have 50 or more workers within 75 miles, so they won’t apply to your small firm. Kentucky has no state family leave law, so the employer is actually being generous by giving you 6 weeks off, unpaid. For more info, post your question on our sister site at http://www.laborlawtalk.com. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~Amelia

3. Posted by: Asim

   Re: FMLA Resource Question

   Good morning Mr. Bosland,
   I’m a law student at Case Western Reserve in Ohio and I am researching the recent January 2009 changes to the FMLA. I’ve spent the last week searching for a specific set of FMLA documents without success but, I came across your FMLA blog and now I am truly hoping that someone with your expertise can help me find what I’m looking for.

   I would like to see a document that shows the exact language of what appeared in the FMLA statute/regulations before the 2009 changes were passed, and I would like to see the exact wording of the new language of the FMLA so as to directly compare the new language to the old language. While I have found several DOL websites, other sources and articles that provide discussions or overviews of the major changes to the FMLA (ex: 29 CFR Part 825), I have yet to find anything that simply shows me the actual language of the former statute, then shows the actual language of the new statute, highlighting the words of the new statute that are different from those of the old one. That is what I am looking for. Two of us have researched this issue for days without any results. I am truly hoping that someone with your background might be able to tell me where I might find such a resource. I will appreciate any help you can give me.

   Thank you sir

4. Posted by: Derrick

   Hi Asim! Feel free to call me Derrick! Kudos to you for wanting to examine the original sources. We predict that you will go far in your law career. Federal regulations, including Department of Labor regulations, are almost always published in the Federal Register 60 days before they go into effect. The only purpose of the Federal Register is to inform the public of impending changes in federal regulations.
   The new FMLA regulations that went into effect in 2009 were originally published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2008: http://www.dol.gov/federalregister/PdfDisplay.aspx?DocId=21763
   The previous regulations were published on January 6, 1995 in the Federal Register: http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/register/1995/1995_2180.pdf
   You may also find 29CFR825 helpful. It lists the FMLA statute, as amended: http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/toc.htm
   HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Derrick