News

September is National Recovery Month, highlighting the work being done to help Americans recover from often-devastating addictions to drugs and alcohol. It’s a good time to review your policies on detecting, preventing and eliminating drug abuse in the workplace to make sure you’re doing so the legal way.

We just fell below 50 employees. Does that mean we don’t have to provide FMLA leave?

Employees who are absent for an FMLA-covered reason are required to provide employers with enough information in their notice to demonstrate the need for FMLA leave. Most employers expect the employee to call in before the beginning of the shift, mentioning FMLA leave. But what happens if you count the absence against the employee because she only reported that she was ill?

We have a team member who currently has a certified intermittent FMLA in progress, stating she could have to have up to six episodes for her condition per year. She is having more frequent episodes that are lasting longer than usual and was recently hospitalized for a short time. Should we ask to have an updated certificate of health-care provider done?

As a recent case shows, employees with intermittent leave certifications for serious health conditions that may flare up from time to time are entitled to more time off than the estimate. Holding an employee strictly to the certification and terminating that employee for missing more work may backfire badly.

As the White House deploys National Guard units to cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., in increasing numbers, now is a good time for employers to review their obligations under two federal laws: the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Compliance priorities tell us more than where HR’s attention is focused—they reveal where organizations feel most vulnerable. Brightmine’s State of Legal Compliance and Employment Law 2025 Report highlights the laws that dominate HR’s compliance agenda, and where attention may not match the real risks.

We have an exempt employee who took a block of FMLA leave to care for an ill child. We deducted from her PTO to cover the absences, so she lost no pay. Now she needs intermittent leave each afternoon to take the child for chemo treatments. She is out of PTO. Can we deduct from her salary for the time missed? Or do we have to pay her even though she does not have paid time off remaining?

HR teams are stuck juggling outdated systems, limited staffing and rising employee expectations, while employees are often left unclear on their options, timelines or pay. The fastest path to relief? Use technology to streamline leave from start to finish without losing the human touch.

By now, you likely have heard about the Trump administration’s renewal and expansion of the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program. Employers should know that there is another DOL-sanctioned option that’s especially useful if they’re not quite sure that what they have done is a violation.