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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. (Among developed countries, accommodations the US legally requires for working parents are very meager. See “Among 38 nations, U.S. is the outlier when it comes to paid parental leave,” by Gretchen Livingston, Pew Research Center, at FacTank.) The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has just issued “The Employer’s Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act” (Guide). The DOL created the Guide because it is “committed to strengthening compliance with the [FMLA] by providing assistance to employers and helping increase their knowledge of the law.” To that end, the Guide provides essential information about the FMLA process, employers’ obligations, and employees’ responsibilities. The Guide describes what employers are covered under the FMLA and employers’ general notice requirements; what happens when an employee needs leave; qualifying reasons for leave; the certification process; military family leave; what happens during an employee’s FMLA leave; and the FMLA’s prohibitions.
The Guide will provide useful information to employers covered by FMLA. If you do not know whether you are covered, are unsure of your obligations, or have been challenged by an employee under the FMLA, talk to an employment law attorney at an Ally Law member firm. Penalties for violation of the FMLA can be harsh. Ally Law member firms have strong employment and labor law practitioners in every jurisdiction in which you do business, and can advise on the plethora of local and federal laws applicable to your business. For more information about our services in this area, contact us at yourally@ally-law.com.
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By Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP.
