Denying employees work access while on leave
Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Employers may not require employees to work during FMLA leave. If an employee does any work, employers may not count that time as FMLA leave.
Particularly for extended periods of leave, employers might want to ensure employees don’t do any work by cutting off access to it. Otherwise, employers must track the time employees spend working and the time they spend on leave.
Tracking leave
For hourly (nonexempt) employees, employers must pay employees for any hours worked and keep track of that time. If employees work remotely, they might be required to track and report their work hours.
For salaried (exempt) employees, employers don’t have to track their work hours, but must still keep accurate records of the time spent on FMLA leave.
Blocking access
To avoid non-compliance risks with tracking leaves, employers might choose to cut employees’ work access while on extended leave. This can include not only access to the physical workplace but also access to the virtual workplace, including emails and messages. Someone from IT might need to be involved.
If employers don’t want all communications shut down, they could work with employees to identify other means of communication, such as a personal email or phone number. That way, employees can continue to share information such as their intended return date. Employers should also ensure that important messages get through.
If access is not cut off, employers need to make sure that employees know that they should not work during leave and that there could be consequences for doing so.
Policies help
To help ensure consistency, employers should have well-communicated policies on not working during leave and what employees can expect. A well-written and communicated policy can:
- Help employees feel like they are not being punished by being banned from work,
- Show that employers take FMLA leave seriously, and
- Prohibit supervisors from asking employees to work while on leave.
If an employee violates the policy and does any work during leave, employers can look at it as a policy violation and apply their applicable discipline.
Key to remember: Employers may cut off access to work during leave, but doing so requires some careful forethought.