Thanks to those who attended my webinar last week with Matt Morris on “Six Ways Your Managers Are Causing FMLA & ADA Leave Lawsuits, and How to Train Them to Stop.” A link to the recording can be accessed here (just requires providing some basic info about you) and the presentation PowerPoint can be downloaded here.

To those who attended, thank you.  To those who missed it, you still have time to access the recording.  As promised, Matt and I provided a road map of all the necessary issues to address in an FMLA training session, including case studies you can use with your managers.

In this session, we provided you material to train your managers in six key compliance areas:

• The Space Case: The manager who should have known the employee put the manager on notice of the need for FMLA leave, but failed to do anything about it.  In most training sessions, you will spend most of your time here, since you want your managers to be able to recognize when an employee may need a leave of absence for a medical condition and what they should do with this information.
• The Lazybones:  The manager who knew the employee needed a medical leave of absence, but failed to direct the employee’s request to the proper channels.  As a result, the employer fell out of compliance and risked FMLA liability.
• The Head Stuck in the Book:  The manager who fails to recognize patterns of FMLA abuse, such as Monday/Friday absences, absences in conjunction with holidays, and when managers learn of information indicating that the employee is misusing FMLA leave.
• The Oversharer:  The manager who responds inappropriately to an FMLA leave request, such as telling the employee “it’s not a good time to take leave,” or making a snide comment about an employee’s leave of absence in an email.
• The Badgerer: The manager who requires an employee to perform substantive work while on FMLA leave or keeps bugging an employee when they should not be working while on FMLA leave.
• The Troublemaker: The manager who tainted the termination decision by injecting his discriminatory tendencies into the decision-making.

Of course, we ended with a holiday jingle. So, I leave you with my warm regards for a Happy Holiday and peaceful New Year, and the lyrics to the holiday song “Oh Rest Ye Bumbling Managers” which we sung to the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by the Bare Naked Ladies (a version which you can listen to or skip on the recording!):

I hired a volatile manager, his name was Ross 

He’s always on a power trip, people call him “The Boss”

He tends to fire those with da gout or chronic IBS

Oh tidings of FMLA . . . FMLA . . . Oh tidings of FMLA

* * *

Ross told his secretary “It’s a bad time for medical leave”

Then he gave her a parting gift, a book called “No More Hysterectomy”

I’m worried what next slur he’ll use at our 3pm meeting

Oh tidings of FMLA . . . FMLA . . . Oh tidings of FMLA

* * *

This law is a wonder, this law is chore

It makes me scared to hire employees anymore

But if I don’t train (or fire) Ross, come tomorrow

I will find the DOL at my front door!

* * *

Thanks again to those who attended the webinar. I look forward to your feedback on the issues we discussed.

Happy Holidays!