Survey: Regardless of widespread coaching, most managers do not perceive FMLA fundamentals

Diving letter:

• Most managers do not understand the fundamentals of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), according to a ClaimVantage survey, the results of which were presented at a webinar by the Disability Management Employer Coalition and shared with HR Dive. The organization tested 435 managers and asked three questions about the law. The organization tested 435 managers and asked three questions about the law.
• The survey found that 46 percent of managers can name the benefits the law offers. 42 percent of managers know how long employees can be absent on FMLA vacation. Forty-nine percent knew what type of employers FMLA vacations had to offer.
• Almost three quarters of respondents said their employers offered FMLA training. 21% said they did not offer such training and 8% said they did not remember if their employers offered it. The things worth knowing did not differ by the training, said DMEC. However, managers who had training showed a better understanding of their role in the process. For example, 63 percent of those with training knew they could be sued for violating the FMLA, while 34 percent of those without training understood this element of the law.

Dive Insight:

Here is an answer key Regarding the questions DMEC asked its respondents: The FMLA offers unpaid, sheltered leave to workers with serious health problems or the need to care for a family member with serious health problems; It allows employees to take this vacation for a maximum of 12 weeks in a 12 month period. and it includes public bodies, schools and private employers with 50 or more employees.

Understanding the fundamentals of FMLA can be important for managers. Employees can trigger the protection of the law without referring to it, for example when they request leave of absence in connection with an illness, an operation or the birth of a child. While managers may not be responsible for managing the vacation themselves, they need to know enough to understand when to submit vacation requests to HR.

The FMLA isn’t the only labor law supervisors should be familiar with, experts say. It is important that managers understand the fundamentals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), owned by Ogletree Deakins’ shareholder Gregory Hare said to the participants at a conference of the Gesellschaft für Personalmanagement 2019. Like the FMLA, the ADA is a federal labor law, and that too often intertwined with the Vacation Act.

Are superiors sometimes the cause FMLA claims and harassment and discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without adequate training, managers can behave inappropriately by making an employee feel singled out or selected. Experts previously said HR Dive.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article, HR Dive incorrectly identified the organization that conducted the survey. ClaimVantage, a division of Majesco, produced the survey.