Employer Impact
Compliance
Employers are generally subject to FMLA if they have 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius, or are a public agency (“Wage and Hour Division (WHD)”, n.d.). Employers are responsible for ensuring that all eligible employees are aware of their eligibility or else they can be subject to penalties. All covered employers are required to display and keep displayed a poster prepared by the Department of Labor summarizing the major provisions of the FMLA and notifying employees how to file a complaint (“Wage and Hour Division (WHD)”, n.d.). Additionally, the poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place where employees and applicants for employment can see it at all locations even if there are no eligible employees …show more content…
Illinois Department of Corrections, plaintiff Michael Caggiano’s leave request was denied because his employer claimed he exhausted his FMLA leave based on their calculations. As a result, he was later terminated for unauthorized absences. The defendant, Westside Adult Transition Center (“Westside ATC”), calculated Caggiano’s total hours worked, using his timesheets, starting with his first day of work. Their calculations indicated that Caggiano did not meet the yearly 1,250-hours requirement. Caggiano rejected the calculation and claimed that he worked 1,299 hours based on an eight-hour workday, because he was not “relieved at lunch,” not able to “leave the premises,” not able to “eat in the lunchroom,” and always “ate on duty in the dayroom with inmates”. The court determined that Caggiano did not exhaust his FMLA leave and he was entitled to an additional two weeks (“Michael Caggiano v. Illinois Department of Corrections”, …show more content…
For instance, if FMLA was not a federal requirement and employers could legally deny and/or not provide job protection to employees that request a leave to take care of their family need, employees could definitely lose trust for their employers because they did not provide support to them during a challenging time in their life. Also, if employees are unable to be with their family member in need, they can become distracted at work and their level of productivity can decline. In contrast, the use of FMLA can also have a negative impact on productivity for several reasons. Employers are faced with unexpected overtime costs, lost sales, missed deadlines, additional administrative costs as well as negative employee morale. Although employees who are able to take FMLA leave are generally satisfied, FMLA can also lead to low morale and decrease productivity in the workplace (“Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations: A Report on the Department of Labor 's Request for Information”, 2007). When employees take unscheduled intermittent leave, employee morale and productivity may decline for the remaining employees at work. The employees who report to work must cover for their colleagues who take FMLA leave, often resulting in overtime.
Compliance
Employers are generally subject to FMLA if they have 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius, or are a public agency (“Wage and Hour Division (WHD)”, n.d.). Employers are responsible for ensuring that all eligible employees are aware of their eligibility or else they can be subject to penalties. All covered employers are required to display and keep displayed a poster prepared by the Department of Labor summarizing the major provisions of the FMLA and notifying employees how to file a complaint (“Wage and Hour Division (WHD)”, n.d.). Additionally, the poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place where employees and applicants for employment can see it at all locations even if there are no eligible employees …show more content…
Illinois Department of Corrections, plaintiff Michael Caggiano’s leave request was denied because his employer claimed he exhausted his FMLA leave based on their calculations. As a result, he was later terminated for unauthorized absences. The defendant, Westside Adult Transition Center (“Westside ATC”), calculated Caggiano’s total hours worked, using his timesheets, starting with his first day of work. Their calculations indicated that Caggiano did not meet the yearly 1,250-hours requirement. Caggiano rejected the calculation and claimed that he worked 1,299 hours based on an eight-hour workday, because he was not “relieved at lunch,” not able to “leave the premises,” not able to “eat in the lunchroom,” and always “ate on duty in the dayroom with inmates”. The court determined that Caggiano did not exhaust his FMLA leave and he was entitled to an additional two weeks (“Michael Caggiano v. Illinois Department of Corrections”, …show more content…
For instance, if FMLA was not a federal requirement and employers could legally deny and/or not provide job protection to employees that request a leave to take care of their family need, employees could definitely lose trust for their employers because they did not provide support to them during a challenging time in their life. Also, if employees are unable to be with their family member in need, they can become distracted at work and their level of productivity can decline. In contrast, the use of FMLA can also have a negative impact on productivity for several reasons. Employers are faced with unexpected overtime costs, lost sales, missed deadlines, additional administrative costs as well as negative employee morale. Although employees who are able to take FMLA leave are generally satisfied, FMLA can also lead to low morale and decrease productivity in the workplace (“Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations: A Report on the Department of Labor 's Request for Information”, 2007). When employees take unscheduled intermittent leave, employee morale and productivity may decline for the remaining employees at work. The employees who report to work must cover for their colleagues who take FMLA leave, often resulting in overtime.