I recently had a client inquiry regarding the practical details of Washington State family leave law and thought I'd use the opportunity to blog on this somewhat convoluted area of workplace law.
Effective June 7, 2006, the legislature amended our state law so that it is more closely aligned with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). On the employer-side, these changes reduce the minimum employee threshold from 100 to 50 employees. A qualifying employee now need only work 1,250 hours in the past 12 months as compared to 1,820 previously. If these threshold criteria are met, an employee is entitled to 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for (a) a newborn or newly adopted or foster child, (b) to recover from the employee's own serious health condition, or (3) to care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition.
Additionally, the legislature clarified that women are entitled to their 12 weeks unpaid FMLA leave in addition to any period of disability due to pregnancy or childbirth.
An important little distinction to note is that, while neither Washington State nor federal law requires that employers pay employees who are out on such leave, the Washington State Family Care Act does allow workers who have available paid sick leave, or other accrued paid time off, to use that paid leave to care for a sick child with even a routine illness, a spouse, a parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent with a serious or emergency health condition, or an adult child with a disability.
Additionally, and always, employers must remember that the Washington Law Against Discrimination mandates reasonable accommodation of all employees with disabilities. As a reuslt, obligations under the WLAD should always be carefully considered when assessing any disability-related leave.
Please Note: This material is provided as general information only and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice. None of the information at this website is intended to constitute, nor does it constitute, legal advice.
This information is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship between Workplace Counselor, LLC, Elizabeth Van Moppes, and/or the visitors of this website. Neither the transmission nor receipt of this website material creates an attorney-client relationship between sender and receiver. The material contained herein is general in nature and may not apply to particular factual or legal circumstances. We do not undertake to update any material in our website to reflect subsequent legal or other developments. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act on this information without seeking professional counsel.
If you have a particular situation you would like to discuss, please e-mail me at evanmoppes@workplacecounselor.com and I would be happy to assist you.
August 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I am often asked if it is illegal for managers and supervisors to maintain their own files on employees. While there is no law prohibiting this practice, I usually advice against it for a variety of practical reason.
1) Every state has a multitude of laws governing which documents an employer must keep, which they must not keep, how they should be maintained, how long they are kept, and in what manner they are destroyed. These considerations alone may be daunting enough to make it inadvisable for employers to allow secondary personnel files.
2) Often even well-intentioned managers create documentation on employees that can be damaging to the company. Preventing managers from keeping their own files allows you, or the HR department, to maintain full control of personnel files and to monitor and influence the quality and legal compliance of documentation.
3) Sometimes, a manager's file will suddently "disappear" or "appear" at what some might think is an opportune time, such as the moment a lawsuit is filed or a troublesome employee is terminated. The appearance of impropriety alone can be damning to an employer.
4) Managers so not always maintain confidentiality or effectively restrict access to these second personnel files. Thinking of these files as their own, I have seen managers maintain them at their home or, worse yet, in their car! And I've seen managers disclose the existence of these files for the first time in their depositions.
5) Further, managers - and all employees - should avoid creating and maintaining records to which HR does not have access. If the employer needs to defend itself in a legal or government investigation, it may be harmful to the employer if there are previously unknown records or records destroyed outside the guidelines provided by law.
Please Note: This material is provided as general information only and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice. None of the information at this website is intended to constitute, nor does it constitute, legal advice.
This information is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship between Workplace Counselor, LLC, Elizabeth Van Moppes, and/or the visitors of this website. Neither the transmission nor receipt of this website material creates an attorney-client relationship between sender and receiver. The material contained herein is general in nature and may not apply to particular factual or legal circumstances. We do not undertake to update any material in our website to reflect subsequent legal or other developments. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act on this information without seeking professional counsel.
If you have a particular situation you would like to discuss, please e-mail me at evanmoppes@workplacecounselor.com and I would be happy to assist you.
May 31, 2006 in Practical Advice | Permalink | Comments (0)
Please visit again soon. Workplace Counselor will have our blog up and running shortly!
May 15, 2006 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
