From Ohio
Question: I have an employee who is taking vacation time to have major surgery. Our Personnel Department says that since they have knowledge of the sickness/injury, they must, by federal law, begin the clock for the Family and Medical Leave Act. Do you have any information on this?
Answer: When an employee is suffering from a serious health condition (and major surgery would surely qualify), an employer has the right not to charge the time off work against an employee’s FMLA obligations, but does not have an obligation to do so.

From New York
Question: If a collective bargaining agreement is more generous in the overtime hour threshold (36) than the FLSA (43), will the Department of Labor still look at a complaint? There is a willful withholding of my overtime and the union is trying to arbitrate. Is there another avenue for me to explore?
Answer: The Department of Labor will investigate complaints only if the alleged violation deals with what would normally be overtime hours under the FLSA. In your case, it’s possible that some of the overtime was earned before the relevant FLSA threshold and that some was earned after you worked 43 hours in the week. If so, the DOL would have the authority to investigation claims dealing with the latter form of overtime.

From North Carolina
Question: Is it against labor laws to call for mandatory overtime on days off (sometimes there is less than eight hours to report for work)? Is it character defamation to have an FTO disparage your training? Can FTO’s restrict bathroom and break use?
Answer: Many of the working conditions you describe are often part of collective bargaining agreements. However, in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement, and assuming there are no local labor laws that apply to the situation (and we doubt there would be), nothing of what you describe would violate the law.

To submit questions on public safety labor and employment issues, visit our web site at www.LRIS.com. Please be aware that the answers given here are for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.