FMLA: A quiet storm blowing winds of change
From the July 2008 issue of Ceridian Connection
Fifteen years have passed since the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law by President Clinton in February 1993. The landmark legislation gave eligible workers the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for their own serious health conditions, birth, adoption or to care for seriously ill family members.
In 2008, the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act granted FMLA leave to employees who have family members in the military. The intent of the act remains to provide employers and employees with a mechanism for balancing business and employee needs when an employee has family and medical needs that conflict with work. However, the regulations continue to create challenges for both employers and employees. As a result, the courts, employers, employees and lawmakers have raised countless questions over the regulations and their application.
According to the 2007 SHRM FMLA Survey Report, 47 percent of respondents experience challenges in administering/granting leave under the FMLA for employees' serious health conditions as a result of a chronic condition. The SHRM survey also found other key challenges related to FMLA. According to the survey, 39 percent of HR professionals said they have had to grant FMLA requests that they believed were not legitimate due to the Department of Labor's regulations or interpretations. And 57 percent had difficulty determining a "serious health condition" under the FMLA.
HR professionals have two primary concerns with the FMLA regulations: the definitions of "serious health condition" and "intermittent leave." HR professionals encounter numerous challenges in administering unscheduled, intermittent leave. Tracking an employee's intermittent leave usage often becomes an administrative nightmare, especially because many employers require, and still more employees elect, to use paid time off to "fund" unpaid FMLA.
"The administrative and compliance headaches associated with FMLA are very real. Maintaining compliance in a changing regulatory environment is only one of the issues employers face when trying to keep on top of leave administration," says Ronnie Bragen, product manager for Ceridian LifeWorks. "Tracking FMLA in small increments, employees using paid time off concurrent with FMLA, and manual entry and updates in time and attendance and payroll increase complexity and results in some employees being paid when they should not be and others not being paid when they should."
Another major hurdle to FMLA administration is that employees are not always able to promptly notify their employers when they need to take FMLA leave, especially in unexpected circumstances. While the FMLA provides that employees give at least a 30-day notice before FMLA leave begins, unless the need to leave is unforeseeable, employees often provide less than a week's notice for a serious health condition, making it difficult for HR professionals to plan for an employee's absence.
Forecast for complexity
While FMLA has increased challenges for many companies, paid FMLA has the potential to throw an even bigger wrench into an already complex situation. To date, two bills have been introduced in Congress, each with its own approach to mandating paid family medical leave.
"Employers are already dealing with the challenge of administering paid time off while employees are using vacation and sick days concurrently with FMLA," explains Bragen. "Adding paid FMLA into the mix would increase the complexity."
While it is unsure whether the bill will see action in Congress, paid leave under FMLA continues to be at the top of the agenda for many politicians.
Calm after the storm
With an already confusing and cumbersome approach to FMLA and the advent of paid FMLA on the horizon, how will companies track employee leave and manage whether time is paid versus unpaid? Outsourcing leave administration to a third party makes more sense today than ever before.
"The best solution is to integrate your system so that FMLA data integrates with your time and attendance and payroll systems," says Bragen. "Outsourcing administration of leaves to an integrated solution provides a center of excellence with leave rules automatically applied throughout the absence. Employers and employees benefit from integration with improved productivity, accuracy and workforce management."
Ceridian's Leave Administration solution can help employers weather the storm amid a continually changing regulatory environment, operational and compliance complexities, and productivity drain. We will help you minimize your risk by arming you with timely information, relieving your administrative burden and empowering employees to return to work faster and lead healthier, more productive lives.
Contact your Ceridian representative to learn how our integrated Leave Administration solution can help you manage absenteeism and improve productivity.
Fifteen years have passed since the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law by President Clinton in February 1993. The landmark legislation gave eligible workers the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for their own serious health conditions, birth, adoption or to care for seriously ill family members.
In 2008, the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act granted FMLA leave to employees who have family members in the military. The intent of the act remains to provide employers and employees with a mechanism for balancing business and employee needs when an employee has family and medical needs that conflict with work. However, the regulations continue to create challenges for both employers and employees. As a result, the courts, employers, employees and lawmakers have raised countless questions over the regulations and their application.
According to the 2007 SHRM FMLA Survey Report, 47 percent of respondents experience challenges in administering/granting leave under the FMLA for employees' serious health conditions as a result of a chronic condition. The SHRM survey also found other key challenges related to FMLA. According to the survey, 39 percent of HR professionals said they have had to grant FMLA requests that they believed were not legitimate due to the Department of Labor's regulations or interpretations. And 57 percent had difficulty determining a "serious health condition" under the FMLA.
HR professionals have two primary concerns with the FMLA regulations: the definitions of "serious health condition" and "intermittent leave." HR professionals encounter numerous challenges in administering unscheduled, intermittent leave. Tracking an employee's intermittent leave usage often becomes an administrative nightmare, especially because many employers require, and still more employees elect, to use paid time off to "fund" unpaid FMLA.
"The administrative and compliance headaches associated with FMLA are very real. Maintaining compliance in a changing regulatory environment is only one of the issues employers face when trying to keep on top of leave administration," says Ronnie Bragen, product manager for Ceridian LifeWorks. "Tracking FMLA in small increments, employees using paid time off concurrent with FMLA, and manual entry and updates in time and attendance and payroll increase complexity and results in some employees being paid when they should not be and others not being paid when they should."
Another major hurdle to FMLA administration is that employees are not always able to promptly notify their employers when they need to take FMLA leave, especially in unexpected circumstances. While the FMLA provides that employees give at least a 30-day notice before FMLA leave begins, unless the need to leave is unforeseeable, employees often provide less than a week's notice for a serious health condition, making it difficult for HR professionals to plan for an employee's absence.
Forecast for complexity
While FMLA has increased challenges for many companies, paid FMLA has the potential to throw an even bigger wrench into an already complex situation. To date, two bills have been introduced in Congress, each with its own approach to mandating paid family medical leave.
- Introduced in 2007, the Healthy Families Act (HR 1542) requires certain employers to provide seven days of paid sick leave to employees to meet their own medical needs or to care for the medical needs of certain family members.
- On April 22, 2008, the Family Leave Insurance Act of 2008 (HR 5873) was introduced in Congress to make 12 weeks of FMLA paid and funded through a family medical leave insurance program.
"Employers are already dealing with the challenge of administering paid time off while employees are using vacation and sick days concurrently with FMLA," explains Bragen. "Adding paid FMLA into the mix would increase the complexity."
While it is unsure whether the bill will see action in Congress, paid leave under FMLA continues to be at the top of the agenda for many politicians.
Calm after the storm
With an already confusing and cumbersome approach to FMLA and the advent of paid FMLA on the horizon, how will companies track employee leave and manage whether time is paid versus unpaid? Outsourcing leave administration to a third party makes more sense today than ever before.
"The best solution is to integrate your system so that FMLA data integrates with your time and attendance and payroll systems," says Bragen. "Outsourcing administration of leaves to an integrated solution provides a center of excellence with leave rules automatically applied throughout the absence. Employers and employees benefit from integration with improved productivity, accuracy and workforce management."
Ceridian's Leave Administration solution can help employers weather the storm amid a continually changing regulatory environment, operational and compliance complexities, and productivity drain. We will help you minimize your risk by arming you with timely information, relieving your administrative burden and empowering employees to return to work faster and lead healthier, more productive lives.
Contact your Ceridian representative to learn how our integrated Leave Administration solution can help you manage absenteeism and improve productivity.
