The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can be daunting
but many answers are found within the FMLA regulations themselves.
Despite many courts' attempts to make the FMLA into the next
statute where attorneys utter the dreaded answer of "it
depends," some common mistakes can be avoided by learning from
the schadenfreude-esque experiences of others, as illustrated
below.
1 Failing to Meet Employer Obligations
The FMLA places many technical obligations on employers, and
even the simplest mistakes can result in legal liability. A few of
the most common mistakes can be readily cured by employers: posting
the most updated FMLA poster at every worksite; having an FMLA
policy and distributing it (via handbook if one exists); advising
employees in writing whether their request for leave is approved or
denied, including all required designation notices, within the
limited time frame required by the FMLA; properly tracking FMLA and
advising of the amount of leave
