The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

208 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
• Not counting FMLA leave against an employee with an attendance
problem. You can’t consider FMLA leave when deciding whether an
employee has missed so much work that termination is warranted.
P Managers’
Checklist
Scheduling
Managing FMLA Leave
o I calendared the start and end dates of the employee’s leave, if I know them.
o If the employee did not give 30 days’ notice of foreseeable leave, I considered
whether to require the employee to delay the start of his or her leave.
o If I didn’t let the employee take leave on the date requested because the
employee didn’t provide enough notice, I put that decision in writing and gave
it to the employee.
o If the employee is taking parenting leave, I made sure the employee’s leave will
be complete within one year of the child’s arrival.
o If the employee’s foreseeable leave will cause undue disruption to the
company’s operations, I asked the employee to try to reschedule (subject to
the approval of his or her health care provider).
o If the employee had to take unforeseeable leave, I made initial contact with the
employee or a family member to gather information and made plans to follow
up in a few days.
Handling the Employee’s Work
o If the employee was available, I talked to the employee and came up with a plan
to cover his or her job duties during leave.
o If the employee’s coworkers will pick up some extra work, I made any changes
necessary to ensure that they will not be stretched too thin.
o I determined which, if any, of the employee’s responsibilities I will handle and
made the necessary arrangements to do so.
o If we will bring on temporary help, I made the necessary arrangements to hire
a temp.