Leg500_Fmla

Assignment #1 – Family Related Issues Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance LEG 500 Explain if it matters that a parent literally had nothing to do with a biological child in order for the child to take advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for that parent. Under FMLA a parent is defined as the biological parent of an employee or an individual who acted as a parent to an employee when she or he was a child. Parents not literally caring for the biological child has no resolve as to whether the child should be granted leave to care for the biological parent (DOL, 2009). An employee has the right to take a leave to care for a spouse or domestic partner, child or parent with a serious health condition, need not take leave continuously so long as the leave does not exceed a total of twelve workweeks during the twelve month period. The twelve-workweek period is measured backward on a rolling basis from the date when an employee first uses any FMLA leave (Halbert, 2009). Even though there is a parental distance between Tony and his dad, he was determined to care for his ill father. This does not give Herman the right to deny him his last opportunity to have a father-son relationship. Herman was supporting Tony in his decision to care for his sick father, until he advised that a leave would be needed. Upon the discussion, Herman violated the FLMA exceptional and special rules, he refused to offer Tony intermittent or reduced health leave or alter means to keep him employed. However, Herman did offer a threat of being unemployed if Tony decided to take the leave. Explain whether the size of the business can have any effect on whether Tony is eligible for family leave under the FMLA. To qualify for the FMLA mandate, a worker must be employed by a business with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of his or her worksite, or a public agency, including schools and state, local, and federal employers, the 50-employee threshold does not apply to public agency employees and local educational agencies (NPWF, 2010). Tony was a great salesman and would be needed for the new car model that would be sold at Rally Motors. Herman had no cause for denying Tony family leave, even though he was in desperate need for Tony to keep the quota of business high, Herman did not only reject Tony’s request for three workweeks of leave instead of his full 12 weeks he is legally entitled to according to FMLA but he threatened him to get his job lost . Explain whether Herman can or cannot imply that if Tony takes a leave of absence under the FMLA, he may not have a job when he returns. An employee’s use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to before using FMLA leave, nor be counted against the employee under a “no fault” attendance policy. According the FMLA fact 28, upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to the employee’s original job, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. If a bonus or other payment, however, is based on the achievement of a specified goal such as hours worked, products sold, or perfect attendance, and the employee has not met the goal due to FMLA leave, payment may be denied unless it is paid to an employee on equivalent leave status for a reason that does not qualify as FMLA leave (DOL, 2009).. Herman can imply that if Tony takes a leave of absence, he may not have a job when he returns. But under FMLA, Tony is covered take a leave and offer caring for his father due to his health issues and Herman should guarantee a job restoration for Tony and equivalent benefits, pay and employment conditions such as those prior to his leave (Halbert, 2009).. Describe who is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. The FMLA applies to all public agencies, including state, local and federal employers, local education agencies (schools), and private-sector employers who employed 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including joint employers and successors of covered employers (NPWF, 2010). The employee must have been employed by the state at least 12 months and for at least 1250 hours of service during the 12 month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave. An eligible employee may take the equivalent of up to 12 weeks of FMLA-covered leave in a 12 month period for a qualifying event. To be covered by FMLA the person who should be cared during the leave is child, Parent, spouse or the employee himself/herself for qualifying events like; birth, foster care or serious health conditions. Explain the extent to which an employer can make his or her own determination as to the eligibility of an employee under the Family and Medical Leave Act. According the FMLA, The regulations clarify that an employee is eligible for FMLA leave so long as the employee has worked for an employer for a total of 12 months. Even with a break in service. The break can be up to 7 years & even longer in certain circumstances, .e.g., where the break occurred because of military obligations. If an employee is not eligible for FMLA leave at the start of a leave because the employee has not met the 12 month length-of-service requirement, the employee may nonetheless meet this requirement while on FMLA leave, because leave time counts toward length of service. The employer should designate the portion of the leave where the employee has met the one year requirement as FMLA leave. (DOL, 2009). (825.110.) An employee does not need to meet the eligibility tests again to requalify for extra intermittent leave within the 12-month period if the additional leave is requested for the same qualifying reason. The FMLA regulations require the employer to confirm an employee’s eligibility for FMLA leave at the time leave is requested even though nothing in the text of the Act imposes this requirement. References Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2009). Law & ethics in the business environment: 2010 custom edition (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. NPWF. (2010) National Partnership for Women and Families: Working Families Need Paid Family and Medical Leave. Retrieved from http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/WF_PL_FactSheet_PaidFamilyLeave_2009.pdf'docID=4682&autologin=true DOL. (2009) U.S Department of Labor: Wage and Hour Division. Family and Medical Leave Act. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/index.htm