Situation A
In situation A the employee is requesting to be paid for the 11 weeks he took off to help with the premature birth of his twins. The employee has worked for Company X for 2 years.
The time the employee took off totaled 11 weeks to care for his twins. During the 11 weeks of time off the employees former department manager left the company. The new department manager agreed to the employees return to work in the same job as previously held by the employee at the same rate of pay. The new department manager denied the request to have the time off salary paid to the employee.
The FMLA act provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave per calendar year. This is designed so the employee can keep group health benefits as long as they are provided and paid for in the same manner that the benefits were while the employee was not out on FMLA leave. FMLA was designed to help employees strike a balance of work and family responsibilities with the ability to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in the event of a family emergency or medical condition. It helps accommodate employers as well in the manner of providing equal opportunity employment for men and woman alike.
FMLA rules apply to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, also to all companies with more than 50 employees. If an employer meets any of these previously mentioned guidelines they must provide all eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:
The birth and care of the newborn child of an employee;
For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care;
To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition. For an employee to be able to take FMLA leave the have to meet certain requirements. The employee must have worked at least 1250 hours in the prior 12 month time frame of when the employee is requesting FMLA leave. The location at which the employee who is requesting leave works there must be 50 or more employees of whom are employed by the same employer of the requesting employee within 75 miles. If these guidelines are met then the employee can request FMLA leave.
Given situation A no violation of the FMLA act was violated by denying the employee his salary for the 11 week period he was off caring for his spouse and prematurely born set of twins.
The fact that his previous department manager left the company doesn’t have any significance in whether or not the employee should have been paid the withheld salary. Upon breaking down
exactly the happenings of the entire request thru return to work this is what I have based my decision that there has been no violation on.
According to the FMLA act the employee meet the requirements addressed in the act to be off on FMLA. The employee has worked for the company for two years which meet the 1250 hour requirement part of the requirement. The need to take off to care for the spouse and prematurely born set of twins also are a qualifying event to take FMLA leave from Company X.
The employee only stayed out 11 weeks of the 12 week maximum allotted time off for FMLA.
The employee was reinstated to his previous job and at his previous rate of pay. This is all within the guidelines set forth by the FMLA act and all are compliant and no violation occurred here. The employee’s request to have his withheld salary for the 11 weeks he was out which was denied in also not a violation of the FMLA Act. Like I mentioned previously the fact that his previous department manager leaving plays no role in the fact his withheld salary was denied.
The FMLA act states that an eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks off of unpaid leave if they meet all the requirements I had mentioned it the
