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Document the performance issues and follow your normal procedure for under-performance. Leave out anything about absences and focus on the quality of work. FMLA does not protect someone from being fired for cause. If they claim they need an accommodation, then start the interactive process.
Excellent response.
Does this coworker report to you? If not, MYOB.
If they do, have you tried actually speaking with them about it? And, if they do report to you, you focus ONLY on performance. If that is indeed slipping, deal with that, and that ONLY.
Finally, "I believe" is not evidence, so don't even go there.
No, it's still nunya business. If you're "cleaning up people's messes," then say something to your manager, but leave out the FMLA part, because the truth is that you have absolutely no idea what your coworkers are going through, and "I believe" is not evidence of anything. It's your belief and nothing more.
Just as, if you were their manager, you should focus on performance and not what you suspect, as their coworker, you need to focus on your claim of having to clean up their work. Their accounts being "a mess" may or may not have to do with their attendance and everything to do with how well they do their job when they're there.
For managers, it's OK to ask the certifying physician if the frequency of absences matches up with their original expectation when they certified the serious medical condition, including whether the absences always being only on Mondays and Fridays is expected with their condition. That is permitted, while asking for specifics about the medical condition is not.
I get that it's frustrating, and FMLA abuse absolutely happens, but leaping right to it when you don't really know anything about their circumstances isn't appropriate, either. Focus on the work and speak with your manager about the work, and the work only.
Everyone assumes people with disabilities are "getting away" with something. Most employers make the accommodation process as difficult and complicated as they can, if they even jave a process. If your coworker took the effort to meet their doctor, got the proper paperwork, and (likely) had to fight with their employer to get what they need to perform their job-they need it. You don't know why this person uses FMLA, not all disabilities are visible, and it could be FMLA to care for a loved one. And illness doesn't follow q calendar. Check your abelism. If there is a performance issue talk to your manager.
You can be disabled and still be abelist. You don't live their life. If there is a performance issue, speak to your manager. It is not your job to monitor how others use their protected time.
As others noted this is 2 fold - but it’s not your job or place to police FMLA use. This should be managed through insurance or your benefits team to mitigate misuse, but this is mere speculation on your behalf - so keep that out of any formal complaints or comments to management.
Now, performance is big. I saw you’re losing out on the ability to do commission earning work. This is costing you time and money - literally; raise this with your boss and see what options are there for progressive discipline or a back-fill, but this is up to the manager. You can help this person, but not at the cost of your wage earning hours - make that case.
But again, you need to make sure you’re dealing in strictly facts, and not opinions, assumptions, hunches or any other inference/judgement - that’s your opinion, and not a matter of fact.
HRD2 - Yes, that’s HR 101. That’s also why I noted “raise this with your boss - but this is up to the manager”, OP isn’t the one exploring these options.
You may want to re-read my comment 😉 as I hope you know that attention to detail is important as an HR professional. 🙃
The progressive discipline point was in relation to the performance.. not that it would be this individuals responsibility (as you’re aware) but the manager in concert with HR would be responsible for managing any performance and progressive discipline measures, based on facts. Not OPs complaints.
Also, you do that FMLA is unpaid. Some companies allow you to use PTO for fmla, but its doubtful someone is taking an unpaid day to go work a second job.
That is not true. There may be states with their own laws, but employers are not required to pay employees using FMLA. FMLA and short or ling term disability are different things.
You can record the patterns, but before your company does anything they need legal consulting.
We sighted patterns and addressed it with our people but it wasn’t accusatory. We shared our findings and stated what it looked like and most of the time the patterns stopped but we always had legal aid and guidance.
If you suspect someone working at their other job, that gets a lot more complicated because you don’t know what their FMLA is for so you can’t judge how a person spends their time out on FMLA unless they violate the medical restriction that they are out on. Again, I wouldn’t go that way. And I wouldn’t do anything without legal advice.