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U.S. again ranks dead last in mandatory paid vacation

06/11/2019
The United States continues to be the only nation with an advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation time or holidays.

Settlement: Dads have paid leave rights, too

06/04/2019
Banking giant JPMorgan Chase must pay $5 million to settle claims it discriminated against men who wanted to take time off after their children were born, but were granted less generous leave benefits than new moms received.

DOL opinion letter on FMLA timing muddies the waters

05/06/2019
Employers must run FMLA leave concurrently with any paid leave an employee takes for an FMLA-qualifying condition, according to a new opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor.

What is the latest information on running FMLA leave concurrently with other leave?

04/30/2019
Q. We don’t have a policy on using FMLA leave concurrently with other leave. Therefore, sometimes employees will ask to use up their paid leave first and then use unpaid FMLA leave. This seems to occur most often with maternity leave, as some new mothers like to have extra time off. Of course, we know about the need for FMLA leave since we know the employee is pregnant. We’ve heard that the DOL now requires us to run leave concurrently. Is this true?

How much leave do we have to grant for bone marrow donation? Must it be paid leave?

04/10/2019
Q. One of my employees plans to donate bone marrow. She will need to take time off for this purpose. How much time can she take off? Must it be paid, even though the decision to donate was not due to her own medical condition?

GOP bill would tap Social Security to fund paid parental leave

04/02/2019
Senate Republicans have introduced legislation that would let new parents draw against their future Social Security benefits to provide paid parental leave when they welcome a new baby or adopted child into their homes.

Do vacation, sick leave buy-backs factor into overtime pay?

03/26/2019
Many employers that provide sick leave and vacation leave time have a policy or practice that allows employees to “sell back” their accrued but unused time. Do these payments for sick and vacation time have to be counted as part of the employee’s regular rate of pay for the purpose of computing overtime?

Support grows for mandatory paid leave plans

03/14/2019
Ten states and the District of Columbia already require employers to offer paid sick leave to employees. Several more states are considering similar legislation.

Get out the vote: Create a voting leave policy

03/12/2019
You can encourage voter turnout by implementing a voting leave policy. A voting leave policy shows you take the right to vote seriously.

Bill would ban local paid-leave laws in Texas

03/06/2019
In the wake of passage of paid-leave ordinances in Austin and San Antonio, state Rep. Matt Krause (R.–Tarrant County) has proposed legislation that would clearly state that Texas municipalities do not have the authority to enact laws requiring employers to offer paid leave.