A Leave Law That Wont Go Away

Emplûyment Law Agenda

A Leave Law That Just Won't Go Away

Technology and outsourcing can help alleviate the paperwork burden associated with the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Like her peers at Alstom and Stanley, Linda Fonteneaux of Nokia acknowledges that her business case for outsourcing FMLA administration was based on a desire for simplification and compliance. She also cites a third reason for seeking a service provider: securing personal information. "The decentralized model was fraught with inconsistencies, and the keeping of employee unsecured personal health information left Nokia vulnerable," says Fonteneaux. the cell phone giant's benefits manager for North America, According to attorney Linda B, Hollinshead of Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia, two categories of employers tend to outsource FMLA administration: larger companies with 20 to 80 cases at a time and companies with multiple locations that lack on-site HR professionals. Administration becomes more difficult for companies with 150 or 200 employees and for companies that have a lot of longterm employees, says attorney Mattliew S, Hffland of Ogletree Deakins in Indianapolis. In the latter case, more employees are likely to have worked 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months and therefore be eligible for FMLA leave. The legal landscape keeps growing more complex: States began passing family and medical leave laws in the mid-1990s, leave became entrenched with workers' compensation and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the FMLA was amended, "Employees started to have lots of leeway to get off work, and employers s t r u ^ e d " with the administrative burden, says Linda EUzey, assistant vice president

By Diane Cadrain

W

ith 42 human resource professionals mana,ging compliance in 48 states, Stanley Black & Decker executives faced a challenge in dealing with a law that many HR managers say they love to hate: the federal Family and Medicai Leave Act, In 2007. "fragmentation alone told...