Timing is everything, and that includes working out the length of time for employee leave. Doug Taylor of Bean Kinney & Korman looks at some of the questions that come up for employers when dealing with leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
When workers request extended leave, employers need to know what kinds of accommodation are on the table:
- Can you fire an employee because he or she can’t come back to work at the end of the 12 weeks of FMLA leave? Yes you can, but there are some important caveats, such as an employee making it known he or she now has a disability. “It is well-settled that extended unpaid leave can be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA,” Taylor says.
- When is a request for leave too long under the ADA? “Open-ended leave requests have been deemed presumptively unreasonable,” says Taylor. Unfortunately, determining what amount of leave would be considered reasonable is largely fact-specific.
- What factors will be considered when assessing whether the leave request is burdensome on an employer? Courts will analyze the nature and cost of the accommodation, the size and financial resources of the employer and the type of business operations, among other issues.
