How to Mark Down a Performance Appraisal for FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993 in order to protect employees who have a serious health condition or who have a family member with a serious health condition. It is a complicated law to manage for most employers and the tendency is for the courts to decide in the favor of employees and not employers. If you believe that one of your employees is abusing FMLA, you can make a note of that on their performance appraisal by describing the the exact behavior in question. FMLA, however, is a slippery slope. An employer cannot be punitive to an employee who is exercising his FMLA rights.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Employees are required to notify their employer of a serious illness as soon as they become aware of it. However, employees do not have to specifically request FMLA, as they may not know what it is. If the employee is absent or tardy to work and does not notify you that he or she has a serious illness, or that he or she has a situation which fits into the FMLA guidelines, you can make a note of this in the performance appraisal and they are not protected by FMLA.
-
2
If your business does not have 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of the office in which this particular employee is working in, you can document the situation in the performance appraisal. Your business is not included in the FMLA guidelines because it is considered a small business.
-
-
3
If the employee does not provide adequate documentation that supports the FMLA claim, then she is not covered by FMLA and the behavior can be documented in the performance appraisal. An example of this is a situation that took place involving an employee who tried to use FMLA as protection when he called in sick and then provided the employer with an excuse from the gynecologist's office where his wife worked. Because the employee had claimed to have had strep throat, the documentation from the gynecologist (a blank excuse form with signature only) was not sufficient.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Most likely if you are considering documenting FMLA-type situations in an employee's performance appraisal, this is an employee who has other issues. It is best to concentrate on true performance issues--productivity, leadership, teamwork and overall competence in job performance--instead of relying on FMLA-type issues in order to release an employee from his or her position. The courts have generally held in favor of employees in cases of discharge from employment based on FMLA issues. Employers should take extra care to abide by the FMLA guidelines applicable to them.
