HR: FMLA - Could Your Managers Be Held Liable?
As if handling FMLA issues wasn't complicated enough... Recently a court ruling stated that individual managers can be held personally liable for violating the Federal & Medical Leave Act.(FMLA) In Eastern Pennsylvania, a federal district court judge ruled in favor of an employee who sued 3 HR managers who allegedly conspired to find a reason to fire him after he requested time off- as allowed by the FMLA.
The employee who was fired claimed that the day after the company was informed he was going to request leave for surgery, the defendants searched his computer looking for a reason to fire him. About 2 weeks later he was dismissed- supposedly for forwarding a pornographic e-mail to a co-worker approximately a year earlier.
The decision of the federal courts is just the latest in a long line of cases that have upheld FMLA claims against individual managers. Basically the ruling means managers and supervisors could be personally on the hook for damages allowed under the FMLA. These damages can include back pay, monetary loss from a denial of benefits, lost wages and attorney fees.
Given that defense and liability costs can be extremely high, it's imperative that managers/supervisors know their rights and responsibilities. For employers- this is not an area where they want themselves or their managers to understand the law only after they've been sued!
Employers need to make sure that their managers take the FMLA seriously and are well versed and compliant in the various aspects of the law. FMLA can be tough to manage but it's vital that employers set up policies that are applied fairly, consistently and within the rules.