There are more than a half dozen state and federal laws concerning leaves of absence for workers, but they all don’t necessarily need to be in your employee handbooks.
“The first question you have to ask yourself is do all these laws apply to me? Because if they don’t, then they shouldn’t be in your handbook,” explained attorney Peter Frattarelli, of Archer Law, during the NJBIA webinar on employee handbooks Monday.
For example, some smaller employers may be exempt from federal and state laws that guarantee job protection for an employee who asks for a leave absence. That’s why employers should beware of using boilerplate handbook language downloaded from the internet because it may be conveying rights to their employees that they don’t really have, Frattarelli said.
Frattarelli discussed seven laws that provide either job protection or income replacement for leaves of absence, how they overlap, and the eligibility requirements are for both employers and employees. The webinar covered the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), New Jersey Worker’s Compensation (WC), and New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (NJFLI).
To watch the entire “Employee Handbook Seminar Series Part 3: Leaves of Absence” webinar, go here.
