Legal Constraints on Employee Benefits

Legal Constraints on Employee Benefits

Introduction

This paper intends to discuss important aspects associated with the procedure of FMLA leaves. Ellen has been working for the company for almost seventeen years and has always been performing well. However, she has been facing some severe health problems recently. Due to her health problems; she has been taking leaves quite often. Mike, the manager, has been frustrated with the situation and has started treating Ellen differently. Ellen is allowed to avail almost twelve weeks of leaves per calendar year in accordance with the rules and regulations of FMLA. Ellen has only taken ten weeks off as yet and she is not gone beyond the limit of leaves allocated. However, she feels discriminated. The purpose of this paper is to make the readers aware about legal issues associated with the case of Ellen and Mike.

Discussion

Potential Legal Issue

Yes, there is a potential legal issue over here if Mike keeps on discouraging Ellen. Taking leaves within the allocated limit provided by FMLA is the basic right of Ellen and Mike cannot deny it. Further, Mike cannot also discriminate with Ellen because her productivity has not been changed; only she is taking leaves frequently due to her health problems. If Ellen continue feeling discriminated; she can easily raise up her voice as she have strong evidence of her past performance and above all she has not gone beyond the allocated limit of leaves. Therefore, there is no reason to be discriminating or discouraging towards Ellen. Ellen can take legal actions against Mike if the situation continues. She can claim that she is discriminated and discouraged to exercise her rights.

It is generally not in the best interest of employers to encourage employees to exercise their legal rights. We live in a society, where ...