Five benefits of training employees on the FMLA
Employees might learn about the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) from a poster on the wall at work. Employers must have this poster in the workplace for employees and applicants to see. Employers don’t need to give employees any more general information about the law, and they aren’t required to conduct any training on the FMLA to employees.
Beyond the poster, most employers don’t want to remind employees about their rights under the law, but training employees on some aspects of the FMLA can have benefits. Employers can, for example, focus the training on the employee’s responsibilities when it comes to FMLA leave, making leave administration easier.
Training on employee expectations and responsibilities could result in the following benefits:
1. Getting more info when employees give notice of the need for leave
Train employees that, when they say they need leave, they are expected to supply enough information, such as whether the leave is related to their own condition, that of a family member, a pregnancy, or a family military situation. Simply saying they need time off is not enough to trigger their FMLA protections.
2. Increasing the chances of getting a complete and sufficient certification
Remind employees that, without a complete and sufficient certification, they risk losing their FMLA protections, and you could return them to a different position or deny their return altogether. Company paid time off policies don’t necessarily include job protection.
3. Decreasing the frequency that employees ask for leave that does not qualify
Give employees a better understanding of the FMLA’s limitations. A brief overview of what reasons qualify for FMLA protections and examples of what reasons do not, could result in fewer requests for FMLA leave to take Fido to the vet.
4. Improving the chance that employees will follow your call-in policy and procedures
Informing employees that they must follow your policies can help reduce the no-call-no-show events when an employee has an FMLA certified leave reason. Employees can learn that an FMLA certification is not a license to ignore your policies.
5. Reducing leave abuse
Tell employees that you take FMLA leave seriously and that leave abuse can result in discipline, up to and including termination. Remind them that employers have the right to ask for recertifications and periodic status reports and may investigate suspected abuse.
More about training
In the training, explain the FMLA leave process — the sequence of events that must happen and what employees must do and when. That way, employees know what to expect and they can’t say they did not know.
The options on what training information will give the most benefits will depend upon each employer’s situation. Instead of looking at it strictly from an employee rights perspective, the training would be from an employee responsibilities perspective.
Giving refresher training can also keep the information fresh, particularly for employees who have never taken FMLA leave.
Key to remember: Employers do not have to train employees on the FMLA. If, however, a one-hour FMLA training session could save you 1.5 hours of leave administration hours per month, that would equate to 18 hours saved per year. It might be worth a try.
