The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

184 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Caution
Compassion is the order of the day. An employee who needs emergency
leave is typically facing a very tough situation—often, a sudden injury or
illness or a difficult birth. Although it’s important to fulfill your notice
obligations, don’t go overboard trying to get the employee to do the
same. Be sensitive to the employee’s situation, and do what you can to get
the information you need without being demanding or intrusive.
Covering an Employee’s Duties During Leave
As a manager, you’re responsible not only for administering an employee’s
FMLA leave properly, but also for making sure the employee’s work
gets done. If you’re wondering how other managers do it, here’s the
answer: According to a nationwide survey conducted in 2000, almost all
employers—98.3%, to be exact—covered the work of an employee on leave
by assigning it to coworkers, at least in part; some (slightly more than 40%)
also hired temporary replacements to help cover the workload. And, for the
most part, coworkers were not resentful about having to take on this extra
work: A whopping 85% of employees said that a coworker’s use of FMLA
leave had a positive or neutral impact on them.
One likely reason many employers simply divvy up the work of employees
on leave is that employees tend to come back fairly quickly. The same survey
showed that the median length of FMLA leave was only ten days—the
equivalent of a two-week vacation.
When it’s time to decide how to handle an employee’s workload during
his or her leave, these statistics provide some reassurance. As we all know,
however, statistics give only a general picture. Every situation is different,
and you’ll have to consider all of the facts and circumstances when trying to
figure out how to get the work done.