Leave When Not Qualified for FMLA

BarbieW

We have an employee who has been out of work for 9 weeks to receive cancer treatment. He does not have any paid disability time left. He just missed being eligible for FMLA leave, but we are considering extending him unpaid leave with the same protections. Is this a good idea? I'm thinking we can give him unpaid leave as an accommodation, but we shouldn't voluntarily promise FMLA protections. What do you think?

regdunlop

offering unpaid leave is a form of reasonable accommodation. if he has any paid leave (vacation days, etc.) let him use it first. whatever you do you want to be consistent in how you treat people who are in similar situations in the future.

DRJOETTE

[quote user="BarbieW"]

We have an employee who has been out of work for 9 weeks to receive cancer treatment. He does not have any paid disability time left. He just missed being eligible for FMLA leave, but we are considering extending him unpaid leave with the same protections. Is this a good idea? I'm thinking we can give him unpaid leave as an accommodation, but we shouldn't voluntarily promise FMLA protections. What do you think?

[/quote]Would he have been eligible for FMLA during any portion of the 9 weeks he was out?

BarbieW

Unfortunately, he did not meet the 1,250 hours requirement because of his illness. It's a pretty tough situation for him.

karenkunzelmann

We have just had the same experience.  He was allowed to use his paid leave and we adjusted his date of hire by 87.5 days.

karlao79

You may want to have a "company policy" put in place to cover this situation.  Do not refer to it as FMLA because it is not.  Govt regulations are very clear that the employee must meet certain criteria. 

kldrake

I am currently in the same situation with one of my employees.  In our Handbook we have a section that specifically addresses this.  If an employee is not yet eligeable or has exhausted the FMLA that employee can apply for a Personal Leave for up to 6 month.  If approved, based on business necessity, we would extend his medical benefits for 3 months and any additional time the cost of medical would go to COBRA benefit where the employee would pay the full premium.

cathisp

It is important that you allow the employee to use any paid time off that would be available first.  Remember, whatever you do you will be setting a precedence.  If your company has a personal leave of absence policy, you might want to use that.