Since Congress first enacted the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993, the percentage of workers taking advantage of its provisions has nearly doubled. That growth is expected to continue as the workforce and general population continues to age and employees become increasingly knowledgeable about FMLA. While most employers consider compliance with and administration of FMLA to be routine, a new survey released today has found 75 percent of respondents report that tracking intermittent and unscheduled employee leave is one of the most difficult issues they face in meeting FMLA requirements. The survey, conducted by BNA and sponsored by Kronos Incorporated, questioned 1,000 employers nationwide to obtain their perspectives regarding FMLA leave.
"While there is broad consensus that FMLA is a workplace policy that benefits workers and their families, employers are confronting real challenges in meeting the law's requirements," said Jim Kizielewicz, vice president of corporate strategy at Kronos. "The burdens associated with FMLA compliance are driving organizations to seek new solutions and best practices that enable more effective and efficient FMLA administration. They are also seeking solutions to improve scheduling of employees to accommodate for the staffing challenges associated with managing intermittent leave."
FMLA creates headaches for employers
According to the "Employers' Perspectives on the Family and Medical Leave Act" survey results, FMLA compliance is clearly a high priority issue in most HR departments today with 84 percent of organizations surveyed noting FMLA issues as very important or somewhat important. However, while the administration and management of FMLA may be a top priority, employers note that it is no simple task to interpret and apply the guidelines.
In fact, eighty-five percent believe the current FMLA provisions need minor or serious revisions. When it comes to areas for improvement, the tracking and administrating of intermittent and unscheduled leave tops the list of obstacles related to FMLA management. This concern is followed by issues related to difficulty in determining what constitutes a serious health condition and challenges in interpreting overlaps in FMLA provisions and state law. Some employers also identified the costs associated with complying with FMLA regulations as a burden to their organizations. For these reasons and others, a large majority of employers feel that FMLA regulations need to be revised.
"With the Department of Labor recently completing its review of the effectiveness of existing FMLA regulations, we checked the pulse of employer attitudes," said Matt Sottong, director of research at BNA. "We found that employers are seeking clearer and simpler guidelines from FMLA as they struggle with managing employee absences and measuring associated costs. Based on the survey results, employers should investigate automated approaches to managing FMLA solutions that simplify the process and clearly report business costs."
As the top FMLA-related issue, the management of unscheduled and intermittent leave has caused widespread problems in the organizations surveyed. This issue is particularly problematic in organizations that employ highly specialized individuals to perform critical jobs. In the healthcare field, for example, the absence of an emergency room nurse requires that administrators temporarily staff that position with another employee who offers the right skills from the right resource pool at the approximate same cost. Since a cardiac nurse or a maternity nurse is not likely to have the exact skills and experience required of an emergency room nurse, the process is not as simple as swapping one nurse for another.
Another issue uncovered in the survey focused on the impact of FMLA on compliance and business costs. Nearly two-thirds of employers report increased administrative costs. Given the central importance of costs to the effective functioning of an organization, an interesting finding shows an alarming proportion of surveyed HR professionals (ranging from 14 to 25 percent) are unable to assess the cost impact of their companies' FMLA compliance.
Best practices in FMLA management
While many organizations are facing challenges in managing FMLA, some have implemented best practices to address some of the issues uncovered in the BNA survey. For the City of El Paso, Texas, which operates 28 departments including critical services such as police, fire, and airport, FMLA management is a routine task simplified by automation. City administrators have developed a set of best practices to track all FMLA-related cases and handle such pain points as intermittent leave and documentation and notification. The city has practices in place to ensure that FMLA benefits are equally extended to all employees and city administrators are often able to proactively identify trends that indicate an employee's need for FMLA leave.
"FMLA is an ongoing priority for the City of El Paso," said Linda Thomas, human resources director, City of El Paso. "Our HR professionals consistently have to be at the top of their game on all FMLA issues with the right processes in place to ensure equal treatment for all of our employees. Through the efficient management of FMLA-related cases and the automation of documentation and notification, we have succeeded in reducing costs related to payroll, insurance, and healthcare."
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