From Wisconsin
Question: My employer is trying to force me to use family leave, although all the languages in policy say “may” apply. I used a week off with sick time to cover a minor surgery, and am on light duty for a couple of weeks. Can they force me into family leave?
Answer: Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, an employer has the right to “designate” time off as using up an employee’s FMLA eligibility, provided the time off is for purposes meeting the FMLA’s criteria. Any changes in this rule would have to be the product of a local employment practice or collective bargaining agreement.
From Missouri
Question: We recently have had a couple of incidents of married officers having affairs with married women. It appears in both cases that everything occurred off duty. In both cases the department has been brought into the issue. In one case, the officer was having an affair with a woman who later was a victim of domestic assault by her husband. The husband has since made a complaint that the only reason he was arrested was because of his wife’s affair. The second one was an officer having an affair with a police officer’s wife from a neighboring jurisdiction. Of course the whole department next to us is a little upset and therefore has brought our department into this as well.
I am the internal affairs investigator for our department. Even though I don’t agree morally with what either of these officers did, I am looking for some direction as to how far our agency can go with investigations like this. Can we as an agency discipline an employee who is having an affair or do we need to wait until the department is brought into the affair?
Answer: The law is somewhat in conflict around the country on this. We think the majority rule is that a law enforcement agency can discipline employees for off-duty affairs but only if the agency can show a demonstrable harm to it resulting from the conduct. In the first situation you describe, we don’t see the necessary harm to the agency, assuming the allegations of the suspect are untrue. In the second situation you describe, we don’t see a hint of the required harm.
From Minnesota
Question: Minnesota, like most states is drowning in a major financial situation. Our city relies heavily on LGA (Local Government Aid) from the state that is slated to be slashed to a degree never seen. Our Chief and other area departments are contemplating work “furloughs” – reducing our workweek to 32 hours. They also maintain the position it is a management right and will not negotiate. We disagree – any advice?
Answer: You’d need to talk to a Minnesota lawyer on this, but the general rule of thumb is that unless a contract waives a union’s rights to bargain in the area, a furlough is a mandatory topic for bargaining and is not a management right. Even if the decision to furlough was not negotiable, it’s very likely that the impacts of the decision are bargainable.