US DOL Issues FMLA Opinion Letters

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued its first opinion letters on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) since 2009.

FMLA2018 1-A outlines the guidelines to be followed tied to organ donor leave, and FMLA2018 2-A provides guidance surrounding no-fault attendance policies.

In FMLA2018 1-A, the DOL stated that “organ donation can qualify as an impairment or physical condition that is a serious health condition under the FMLA” when it involves one or more night’s stay in the hospital.

Smith Amundsen expanded on FMLA2018 2-A as follows:

The DOL issued guidance on the appropriateness of a no-fault attendance policy that have features that suspend attendance point accumulation and also suspend attendance point dissipation during a period of FMLA leave. The DOL found such policies do not violate the FMLA, if applied in a nondiscriminatory manner.

Employers should review these letters, as well as their attendance and leave policies, to ensure compliance.

For more details on the opinion letters, please click here.


The information included in this blog post originally appeared in Smith Amundsen’s Labor & Employment Law Update on August 31, 2018, written by Noah A. Frank.

hospital bed

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