HR managers concerned over federal leave policy

Human resource managers expressed concern yesterday about federal policy on family and medical leave, which allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave of absence.

Shirley Dotts, president of the CNMI Society of Human Resource Management, said the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is not very clear on whether or not workers can “stack” leave.

A worker stacking his or her leave uses different types of leave—such as sick leave, vacation leave, and FMLA leave—one right after another.

Dotts noted that workers could be out for a very long period of time if stacking is allowed, instead of requiring the FMLA leave to be used concurrently with other leave.

“It’s a little confusing,” she said in an interview after the SHRM meeting at Pacific Islands Club yesterday.

Richard Hamilton and Louis Cabuhat, the Saipan-based investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, said they needed to further research on the matter. As guest speakers in yesterday’s SHRM meeting, the federal officials made a presentation on the FLMA leave and entertained questions from participants.

Dotts quoted attorney Marcia Schultz as saying that stacking can be allowed or prohibited, depending on the employer’s policy. “If there is no policy, it opens the door for employees to do stacking,” Dotts said.

She said HR managers also raised concerns about the enforcement of a provision in the FLMA requiring employees to provide 30 days advance notice when the leave is foreseeable.

“Most of the time, employees do not inform the management until the last minute, even if they have more time to do it,” Dotts said.

Workers may avail of the FLMA leave if they have worked for a covered employer for at least one year, and for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and if there are at least 50 employees within 75 miles, according to an informational material from the U.S. Labor.

The FLMA require employers to grant unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks for any of the following reasons:

* to care for the employee’s child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care;

* to care for the employee’s spouse, son or daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or

* for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee’s job.