Abuse of rights enshrined under FMLA is not uncommon. In fact, studies have shown that 52% of employers feel that they have granted unsubstantiated FMLA leaves to their employees. So, FMLA abuse is real and common. In fact, it is so common that employees give it a damn to bunking a day in the middle of the week feigning sickness and go on to attend their favorite sports, festivals, etc. This is bad for employers. They may have to face productivity loss, loss of customer service, and more. This is why it calls for an organized way to approach the problem of feigning sickness by employees and thereby abuse the provisions of FMLA.
Here are some points that you can go by to uncover FMLA abuse. It must be pointed out that big data about employees can help you detect FMLA abuse to a great extent.
Collecting Data
To dig out likely abuse of FMLA provisions, you must have the right data set. Since most organizations already have a provision for storing and analyzing data, collecting the right data set must not be difficult.
Finding the Outliers
You need to look at absence rates and analyze it to get a hint of groups and individuals who are in the habit of abusing leave provisions. This can give you a peep into the pattern for leave requests for specific individuals, groups, or divisions. With the pattern on board, you can identify those who are in the habit of abusing FMLA provisions.
Localized Assessment
Studying patterns for potential FMLA abuse should not be an isolated event. It has to be done along with documents submitted by the specific groups or individuals. If the employees concerned have submitted all the papers, sought re-certification of their medical condition after the circumstances have changed or have followed the company’s call-in policy, there is hardly anything that you can do. If the assessment throws up a lower-than-average leave number it may indicate that employees are not being given enough leave. If the situation is the opposite, it may indicate that they are taking more leave than normal.
Regular Checking
You need to periodically check the records of employees who have been granted FMLA. This can throw up interesting results, more so if you analyze the reports generated on each such occasion. If there is regular FMLA abuse by a specific group of employees or specific individuals, you can zero in on them through regular checking and then comparing the reports generated on each occasion.
Acting on Honest Suspicion
Being suspicious about the activities of an employee can well be the start of an investigation to uncover if one or some of them are abusing FMLA provisions. Honest suspicion may arise in the following circumstances:
- If the employee is taking off mostly on weekends and having extended weekends
- If the employee is being frequently absent
- If the employee’s duration of absence is longer than estimated.
- If an employee’s social media posts or sightings by coworkers suggest that the employee is not really under any medical condition and is engaged in completely unrelated events and occasions.
Conclusion
FMLA abuse is very common in an organization. These are some of the ways to uncover FMLA abuse. These will help employers to distinguish between genuine and fake leaves.
