Legal Question in Medical Leave in California
Employee wants paid day off to drive wife to doctor
We are a nonprofit employer that is funded under contract by city, state and federal funding.Employee has requested a indefinte paid day off to drive wife to work every Friday and has stated that this may be throughout his course of employment with us (he has been employed withus for over 11 years). Does this fall under the FMLA act. He also want to use up all of his accrued paid sick leave and vacation towards the days he takes his wife to the doctor. We will of course ask him to obtain a doctors note that this is necessary. If we put him on a paid 12 week FMLA for one friday per month, indefintely (he has 20 days of accrued vacation)we would be shorthanded and not be able to provide services under our contracts. Can we deny this and have him use up his vacation. He will not tell us how long this will continue, just that it is idefinte.
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2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Employee wants paid day off to drive wife to doctor
He is way past the limits of the FMLA's intent, which is to provide emergency medical care to family members, not drive them to work. Using sick leave is not appropriate for other than 'sick' reasons. Using vacation days would be up to company policy on use for this purpose.
Re: Employee wants paid day off to drive wife to doctor
FMLA is for employees to care for seriously ill family members, not to drive spouses to work. Unless I'm missing something, it does not appear to apply here. If the employee claims he needs the time off to care for a seriously ill spouse, you have the right to ask for a medical certification of that need from the medical care provider.
It is imperative that an organization such as yours have written policies that spell out benefits such as those for medical and other forms of leave, so that all employees know what they are entitled to. And you must follow them. If you don't have such policies in a written format, you should seek the help of a Human Resource professional or a management side law firm to draft them for you.
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