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An employee just told me that their parent who lives in another country has a serious health condition, so they want to take FMLA leave to travel there and care for the parent. Can the employee apply for FMLA leave before heading overseas, or must he travel overseas using other leave and apply from there?

If employees want more leave and aren’t going to return as scheduled, it’s their obligation to request more leave. They can’t not show for that first post-leave shift and demand after the fact to take more FMLA leave.

I have an employee who has two serious health conditions that qualify them for intermittent leave, and he has two separate certifications. Does each condition qualify him for a full 12 weeks or 480 hours of FMLA leave during the year?

We are located in California and are potentially interested in participating in the Department of Labor’s PAID program to fix some innocent errors. Does our location impact our decision?

Andrew Rogers, the Wage and Hour Division administrator, said the 2024 final regs were too restrictive and that the 2026 proposed regs adhere more faithfully to courts’ interpretations of the FLSA. But he also predicted that more workers would be classified as independent contractors if the proposed regs are finalized.

Will this be the year that a federal law will require employers to provide some form of paid leave for workers? It’s too early to tell for certain, but there’s an increasing chance it might happen during the off-year midterm elections as pressure mounts on so-called affordability issues.

The Biden administration nixed the program largely because it allowed employers to avoid penalties and the doubling of unpaid wages the FLSA allows the DOL to assess for violations if only they confessed to their mistakes and told the DOL. PAID is now back and open to employers who want to resolve FLSA problems as well as FMLA issues.

Consider this scenario, another in a long line of examples showcasing why FMLA intermittent leave poses a major headache for employers but is a law with which they must comply.

An employee was injured on the job and must be out for surgery as a result of that injury. He is receiving the surgery and paid time off under our workers’ compensation policy. Can we run his FMLA leave concurrent with his workers’ comp leave and make him use his paid time off as part of his FMLA leave?

Two new opinion letters address FMLA leave during company closure and travel to and from medical appointments.