![\"Doctors](\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Blue-Planet-Studio.jpg\" "\\"Credit:")
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In any organization, there comes a time when an employee gets sick which necessitates taking a sick leave. Most employees are usually not well-informed of when they qualify for a sick leave and what the law requires of both them and their employer. Below are some situations that many employees are not well aware of what the law requires of them:<\/p>\n
Who qualifies to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act?<\/strong><\/p>\n The family and medical leave act (FMLA) requires those organizations with over 50 employees working within a 75-mile radius to take an unpaid leave in the instances of a childbirth or adoption. It also allows for leave where one is seriously ill or when a spouse or a child is sick and they need to take care of them.<\/p>\n The law does not however clearly define a serious illness. However, a cold, stomach upset, non-migraine headaches and other non-life threatening illnesses may not qualify. If however after seeking medical help once is advised by a physician to take medical rest of over three calendar days, that may be considered a serious illness.<\/p>\n Who qualifies for leave as a reasonable accommodation for their disability?<\/strong><\/p>\n An employer can choose to have attendance and leave policies that uniformly apply to all employees irrespective of their disability. The employer should however not refuse an employee that has a disability to get a leave similar to other employees. He may also be required to make adjustments in the leave policy to accommodate an employee with a disability. The employer is not required to provide additional paid leave but the accommodations may include a flexible unpaid leave.<\/p>\n The uniform leave doesn\u2019t violate Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) just because of the mere fact that it affects those with disabilities more. However, if a disabled person requests for modifications of the policy, the employer may be required to provide them under ADA unless in instances where they would lead to undue hardship.<\/p>\n Is the employer required by law to provide pregnancy leave?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the event that a woman is unable to work as a result of a disability resulting from pregnancy and childbirth, an employer is advised to treat this as a temporary disability. Thus the employee may take a short-term disability leave.<\/p>\n The law doesn\u2019t treat pregnancy as a separate incident, special than any other. For instance, in the event that the employer doesn\u2019t offer temporary disability leave, the pregnant employees must take the leave without pay, and in the event they exceed the days provided, they are liable to face the consequences that apply, even termination.<\/p>\n Again, in the event that an employee is late due to morning sickness resulting from pregnancy, they are not entitled to any special treatment. The penalties will be similar as those of the employees who were late due to other reasons. However, for the organizations with more than 50 employees, they will be required to comply with the FMLA and allow employees to take unpaid pregnancy leave and bonding following child birth.<\/p>\n Credit: Shutterstock\/Blue Planet Studio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In any organization, there comes a time when an employee gets sick which necessitates taking a sick leave. Most employees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-rights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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