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Abuse of leave rights, lack of notice, leave tracking are top FMLA concerns of WorldatWork members

Human resource practitioners strongly support most of the Department of Labor's (DOL) proposed modifications to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, according to a member survey conducted by WorldatWork, an association of human resource professionals from FORTUNE 500 and other organizations worldwide.

"I applaud DOL s leadership in re-examining some of the regulatory provisions of FMLA," said Cara Welch, director, public policy for WorldatWork. Our members have frequently asked for guidance on how to implement and administer FMLA under the current rules. The proposed new regulations go a long way towards clarifying key issues."

When WorldatWork last surveyed on FMLA practices in 2005, those results were cited throughout the regulations and used as supporting material for some of the proposed changes issued by the DOL this past February. WorldatWork submitted a comment letter highlighting the results of its 2008 survey, "FMLA Practices and Perspectives: Reactions to the Proposed FMLA Changes and New Military Provisions."

Key findings. Overall, total rewards professionals support the DOL's proposed regulations as these will help ease the administrative burden of implementing a very time-consuming and labor-intensive set of requirements. However, the survey notes the following concerns:

• Employee abuse: Suspected employee abuse is the number one concern about intermittent FMLA leave among total rewards professionals. It is reported to cause extreme difficulty in 42 percent of organizations, greatly contributing to the widespread support of many of the DOL proposed changes that would allow employers to better manage these sometimes frequent but brief absences.
• Lack of advance notice: Forty-nine percent (49%) of intermittent FMLA absences are scheduled, but most intermittent leave users (81%) are providing no more than a 24-hour notice, and over half give notice the day of the absence or even later.
• Leave tracking: While not a federal requirement per se, the need to track intermittent FMLA absences in order to comply with various provisions remains a considerable challenge for participating organizations. Good communication is key to successful FMLA tracking; communication breakdowns, not to mention inadequacies in tracking systems and software, often lead to increased difficulty in managing intermittent FMLA leave.
• Military provisions: Employers want clear definitions surrounding the military provisions. In particular, a large portion of survey respondents do not understand what is meant by "exigency." A more understandable term would be helpful since the term "exigency" is not intuitive for many total rewards practitioners.

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