May 27, 2019

Did you know that even if your company has a clearly stated and equally applied call-in procedure spelled out in your handbook, that you may need to deviate from that in order to stay in compliance with the FMLA?  In the event of an employee’s need for unforeseeable leave, such as a car accident or heart attack, if the employee is unable to comply with your requirement that they, for example, call in 2 hours before their regularly scheduled shift, you will have to make concessions for the employee’s failure to comply.  Further, you should allow others to call in on your employee’s behalf.  One employer found this out the hard way.  The employee was in such a depressed state that she was unable to speak at all, much less call-in to report her own absence.  Her family member called in on her behalf, but the employer failed to accept it as a valid call-in and terminated the employee after she failed to show up for several days.  Not unsurprisingly, this employer ended up getting sued by the employee.  Contact our attorneys at myHRcounsel for help wading through the ever-complex web of FMLA laws and regulations!