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By Jason Wilson Last updated Jul 28, 2021

Whether a supervisor, HR manager or company president, dealing with vacation requests from employees is almost always a challenge. And of course, this is only made more complicated by COVID and vaccination requests. These requests represent the intersection of numerous federal and state laws that have very specific requirements (and severe penalties for not following them). Next time you deal with a sick leave claim, consider these 5 steps.

1. Put everything in the right hands: Most companies have a human resources department or a designated person to deal with absenteeism issues. Remember that it is not the manager’s job to process the sick leave application, but rather to get the application into the right hands. If a manager fails to forward the vacation request or tries to process it alone, he could hold the company liable.

2. Find out which laws apply: Before you ensure that you are fulfilling your obligations to the employee, determine which laws apply. Depending on the situation, an employee is entitled to vacation under the Indiana Workers’ Compensation Law, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). And don’t forget the new federal law that provides vacations for various COVID situations.

To make matters even more confusing, it is possible that these three laws (or two of the three laws) apply at the same time. In fact, there is almost always some sort of overlap between these laws in the management of employee sick leave.

3. Follow Your Policies and Complete the Required Paperwork Promptly: Your company may already have policies in place that regulate FMLA, ADA, or employee compensation leave. If so, you should make sure that you follow these guidelines when managing employee leave, including keeping a record of the leave. And of course there are different requirements for these different types of vacation requests.

It’s also important to remember that just because an employee is filing a sick leave request doesn’t necessarily mean you are required to file it. You need to determine whether you are entitled to the leave requested. If the employee meets the legal requirements and your guidelines, this employee is entitled to sick leave. However, the opposite is also true. If an employee does not meet legal or political requirements, an employee can be denied leave.

4. Confidentiality and No Retaliation: While companies cannot guarantee confidentiality in all aspects of sick leave management, employers are well served if they keep information on leave when needed. Maintaining this confidentiality helps to minimize the legal risk to the company.

Companies also need to be aware of their anti-retaliation policies so as not to take revenge on the employee who was injured, requested leave, and / or has a disability. An effective way to achieve this goal is to regularly train managers and supervisors about the company’s vacation policies and procedures.

5. Contact your specialist lawyer or attorney: This is a particularly sensitive area of labor law. Anyone who receives an application for leave should not be afraid to ask questions to a specialist or lawyer. It is more cost effective for you to seek help in the proper management of a sick leave at the front end than it is to misuse it and face an expensive lawsuit later.

ADAM BARTROM is a partner in the Department of Labor and Employment in the Fort Wayne office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. He can be reached at [email protected] or 260-425-4629.