Revised Worldview Puzzle Essay: Refitting the Pieces

Refitting the Pieces

Introduction

Employers today are required to operate their businesses under a variety of regulations stemming from a multitude of laws governing the workplace. Frequently, common workplace occurrences raise difficult questions under several different laws. One such occurrence is when an employee requests a leave of absence for an illness or an injury. If such a request is not handled properly, an employer could face liability under statutes including the Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA"), the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), and Workers' Compensation laws.(1) For employers with a unionized work force, the situation could be further complicated by a collective bargaining agreement.

Refitting the Pieces

Unfortunately, working with all of these laws concurrently is often akin to assembling a jigsaw puzzle - all the pieces must be used, but it is not always apparent how they fit together Because there are several different factors which must be analyzed when employees request leaves of absence, it is imperative that employers utilize a multi-track analysis that considers all of the relevant laws. This outline illustrates a number of important areas of overlap and identifies pragmatic approaches for utilizing this multi-track analysis. Not all employers are covered by the ADA, FMLA and Workers' Compensation laws. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees. By contrast, the FMLA covers all public employers and private employers with 50 or more employees. Generally, Workers' Compensation laws apply to all employees. Therefore, in the private sector, ADA, FMLA and Workers' Compensation laws overlap only for those employers that employ 50 or more employees. In the public sector, ADA, FMLA and Workers' Compensation laws overlap for those employers with 15 or more employees. In the private sector, Workers' Compensation laws and the ADA overlap for those employers with 15 or more employees.

The ...