Failure to Train Supervisors, Provide Required Notices, Among Top FMLA Employer Mistakes
Connecticut’s top FMLA officials cite a failure to train supervisors and provide required FMLA notices as among the most common mistakes that are getting employers in trouble with the FMLA.
Attorney Heidi Lane, Director of the Connecticut Department of Labor and Attorney Erin Choquette, CEO of the CT Paid Leave Authority, recently spoke with a group of employers at our FMLA Mistakes: Ask the Experts webinar on October 30th.
These are the common mistakes they see:
Managers and supervisors who fail to understand the importance of a call out.
Managers and supervisors saying the wrong thing to the employee.
Not understanding when an absence qualifies for leave/ benefits.
Not completing the employment verification forms.
Not providing the CTFMLA/CTPL notice to employees.
Not providing the other required notices to employees
Accepting an incomplete or insufficient medical certification.
Failing to keep medical information confidential.
Not returning the employee to their original job.
Not understanding the CT FMLA and CT Paid Leave are different.
Failing to remit Paid Family Medical Leave contributions to the Authority.
Attorneys Lane and Choquette stressed that many of the mistakes that put employers at risk of FMLA interference or retaliation claims can be obviated through adequately training managers and supervisors in identifying potentially FMLA qualifying conditions and in understanding employee rights under the FMLA.
Comment Period Closes for FLSA Overtime Rule
The notice and comment period for the new Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rule closed on November 7th. The proposed rule, if finalized, will increase the minimum salary threshold necessary to qualify for an overtime exemption from $35,568 annually ($684 weekly) to $55,068 annually ($1,059 weekly). These amounts would also increase automatically every three years, indexed to available wage data. No changes were made to the FLSA duties tests.
If the DOL proceeds with the final rule after reviewing the public comments, the rule will next be reviewed by the White House and the Federal Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs before a final rule is published. The process could take several months and a final rule could also be delayed or blocked due to expected legal challenges.
Biden Signs Executive Order on AI
President Biden issued and executive order on October 30th establishing new standards for the use of Artificial Intelligence. The order directs the U.S. Secretary of Labor to publish principles and best practices for employers that could mitigate AI’s potential harms to employees. These include:
job-displacement risks and career opportunities related to AI, including effects on job skills and evaluation of applicants and workers;
labor standards and job quality, including issues related to the equity, protected-activity, compensation, health, and safety implications of AI in the workplace; and
implications for workers from employers’ AI-related collection and use of data about them, including transparency, engagement, management, and activity protected under worker-protection laws.
The Executive Order further directs the Labor Secretary to issue guidance making clear that employers using AI to monitor or augment employees’ work must continue to ensure workers are compensated for their hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Additionally, within one year, the Labor Secretary must publish guidance for federal contractors regarding nondiscrimination in hiring involving AI and other technology-based hiring systems.
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