How the end of USPS same-day postmark affects FMLA administration
Sometimes, small, seemingly unrelated changes can have an unforeseen impact. Last year, the United States Postal Service (USPS) proposed changes to the way it handles mail that could affect how employers process leave requests under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The USPS said that, “while the presence of a postmark (also known as a “cancellation”) on a mailpiece confirms that the Postal Service was in possession of the mailpiece on the date of the postmark's inscription, the postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mailpiece.”
In other words, the agency won’t guarantee that mail deposited in drop boxes or in the mail slot inside a post office will receive a postmark on that same date. The USPS doesn’t say how long it might be between dropping off a mail piece and getting a postmark. Postmarks are often used as evidence when something is mailed.
The FMLA has a few pieces of mail that could be affected by this, including:
- The eligibility/rights & responsibilities notice,
- The designation notice, and
- Certifications.
How this affects FMLA administration
Under the FMLA, once an employee puts the employer on notice of the need for leave, the employer has 5 business days to get the employee an eligibility/rights & responsibilities notice. If an employer gets this notice in the mail on day one, it might not be seen as “received” by the USPS that day. If that delay causes the employee not to receive it within 5 business days, the employer has technically violated the FMLA.
The same is true for the designation notice. Once employers have enough information to determine that an absence qualifies for FMLA leave protections, they have 5 business days to get a designation notice to the employee. While most employers don’t worry too much about meeting these 5-day deadlines, missing them can be seen as part of other compliance issues.
The certification is where employers might also feel this change. Employees have at least 15 calendar days to return a completed certification, but those 15 days don’t start until the employee receives the request and form.
The same types of USPS delays could impact employees, too. Under the FMLA, if employees don’t get the certification back to employers within 15 days and no extenuating circumstances justify the delay, employers may apply their company policies to the absence after the 15-day window closes and before the employee provides the certification. They might get the certification in the mail on Tuesday, but the postmark might read Wednesday or Thursday. That doesn’t mean the employee didn’t send it on Tuesday.
Employers might need to be a little more flexible with this 15-day window for employees, while also staying on top of their own FMLA-related deadlines.
Key to remember: Due to changes in the way the USPS works, employers might have to adjust the timing of processing FMLA leave requests.
