The Importance of Managing Employee Leave

When it comes to leave management, it is more critical than ever that you understand the various leaves and how they affect your company. You also need to have policies in place to manage and record employee leaves. We’re referring to the multiple state and federal leaves employees are entitled to, the tangled web of leave laws is complicated and exhausting, and we won’t go into too much detail, but you should know the basics so you can act properly when the situation arises.

The critical part of managing leaves involves timely notification to the employee once you’re been made aware, getting proper physician documentation where applicable, tracking the leave, and making sure the employees gets back to work in a timely matter according to the laws.

Since these leaves are time based, the clock starts ticking only when you’ve properly documented the leave. If you don’t, the leave could stretch beyond the legal limit, which could strain your business and stretch these leaves out far longer than necessary.

Infinium HR helps its clients with these leaves, by sending the proper notifications and tracking the leave, you can focus on your business. But you, the employer, must understand what constitutes a leave, and then take the right steps to notify Infinium so we can take appropriate action.

There are multiple leaves that apply to small business based on the number of employees. Here is a quick list:

Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) – 5 employees or more

PDL applies to employers with 5 or more employees and provides up to 17 1/3 weeks of protected leave to a pregnant employee once they are designated on disability by their physician. No qualifications on eligibility.

Paid Family Leave (PFL) – All employers that are subject to State Disability Insurance

PFL is an employee funded program that is part of SDI. Employees receive supplemental pay from the state similar to Disability or Unemployment. Employee’s job is not necessarily protected unless other leave protections are required based on company size, for example.

Parental Leave 20 – 49 – New for 2019

Parental leave is available to new moms and dads for baby bonding and placement of child with employee for adoption or foster care. This leave is an unpaid, job protected leave up to 12 weeks. Employee must have worked 1250 hours in the 12 months prior to taking leave. Employer sponsored medical benefits must be continued.

Family Medical Leave – FMLA 50 employees or more

Available to eligible employees to care for themselves or a sick family member. Employees must have worked 1250 prior to requesting leave to be eligible. Job protected up to 12 weeks and longer in some cases when combined with CFRA or PDL. Employer sponsored Medical benefits continue.

California Family Rights Act -CFRA 50 employees or more

Available to eligible employees for baby bonding, sick child, adoption process, foster care, etc. Employees must work 1250 prior to requesting leave to be eligible. Job protected, can work in conjunction with FMLA or PDL. Employer sponsored medical benefits continue. Many of these leaves as mentioned, work in conjunction with each other, and overlap in some cases. More information than we can possibly go through in this blog. The important thing to know, is that anytime you have an employee that is requesting leave, or maybe they aren’t aware of the leaves, and just requesting to take time off, you as the employer need to recognize the situation and make sure you take the proper steps. The easiest step is to contact Infinium HR as we work with you to keep you on track and compliant in all the documentation required.

If you have any questions on leave or any other HR issue you’re having, please don’t hesitate to contact the experts at Infinium HR.