Page 30 - MetalForming March 2010

Doug Ehlke, a national board- certified civil trial lawyer, has for more than 20 years represented metalforming companies in OSHA litigation and in labor- union elections. His law practice emphasizes labor law, personal injury, product liability, probate, estate planning and environ- mental and employment discrimination law.
Ehlke Law Offices
28840 11th Avenue South Federal Way, WA 98003-3705 Phone: 253/839-5555
Fax: 253/874-5475
E-mail: dehlke@ehlkelawoffices.com
YOU & THE LAW DOUGLAS B.M. EHLKE
FMLA Leave Employee Termination for Unprotected Absences Upheld
Requests for intermittent FMLA leave to cover partial days or periodic bunched days is growing. Employ- ers should develop policies adaptive to such requests and require renewal notice by employees seeking such leave peri- odically so that they do not waive the request for FMLA-leave notice require- ment. Employers also should have strong “excessive absenteeism” policies.
A recent Federal Appeals Court rul- ing in the Seventh Circuit (covering the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wiscon- sin) examined the interplay between
protected (FMLA) and unprotected excessive absenteeism.
Julie Long worked as a payroll clerk for her employer for more than 20 years, and generally had received favorable performance reviews. But in June 2005, she was absent approximately 25 percent of her scheduled workdays, and 40 per- ent in July. She also was making numer- ous mistakes and was late in completing her work assignments. She received three oral warnings but the problems per- sisted. Over time, the errors in her work and increasing absences led to poorer
28 METALFORMING / MARCH 2010
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