Dante is about to expire FMLA (in CA), and wants an ongoing ADA leave for his own SHC, for up to a year! What happens next?

Question:

Dante has been on a continuous FMLA (FMLA/CFRA) leave and will have exhausted all 12 weeks and return to work in a week. Upon his return to work the employee has requested an accommodation of ongoing time off for additional treatments. Treatment and recovery are expected to last about a month at a time, every other month, for around 2 years. This does not seem very reasonable. What should be my next steps as the medical leave and accommodation coordinator in my organization?

Answer:

When FMLA (FMLA/CFRA) ends, ADA (ADA/FEHA) begins, all the time, everytime, no matter what, for the employee’s own Serious Health Condition – until it is determined they are or are NOT a Qualified Individual with a Disability.  It is a separate cause of action in a lawsuit in CA so documenting this process is imperative. Engage in a Good Faith Interactive Meeting, determine ways to accommodate or determine if it is an undue hardship (with clear objective data). An employee must be able to perform all the essential functions of the job with the accommodation.  Will Dante be able to meet that requirement taking leave every two months for a month, for two years?  Is that a reasonable request under the ADA?  Follow the six step process of the ADA Accommodation Compliance Blueprint – purchase the individual skill building courses or join us for a 3 ½ day Deep Dive live webinar October 20-22.

Navigating medical leave requests can be complex with the varying leave types, what are your top strategies for managing medical leaves and accommodations in your workplace? Do you have Standard Operating Procedures for your culture, industry and company policies and procedures? Do you have an Integrated Medical Leave & Accommodation Management System™ in your organization or are you addressing these challenges employee by employee and dealing with it as you go? Leave Management Solutions’s skill-building courses offer you a range of self-paced online and live training/coaching/mentoring tools to establish strategies and procedures for your organization. In these courses you can learn how to identify who is eligible for FMLA (CFRA), explain the four primary reasons to transition from FMLA (CFRA) to ADA (FEHA), how to conduct an Undue Hardship Analysis, and so much more!

Learn from Beth De Lima, MBA, SPHR-CA, SHRM-SCP, an HR and Vocational Rehabilitation specialist with more than 28 years of expertise testifying in court and training and consulting on  complex medical leaves and accommodations.

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