is fmla detrimental to companies/hospitals?

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to me it seems that fmla can be detrimental to hospitals/companies. where i work, we have soooo many call-ins where they're using fmla. almost everyday for months now we have at least 2 or 3 call ins from fmla alone. we end up short staffed and having to work over time just to play catch up when the company claims to already be hurting from the overtime and have put a freeze on hiring even acquiring temps. i personally know of several people who abuse the fmla when there is nothing wrong with them. this one lady used her fmla to have a birthday party for her son, and another used hers to participate in a wedding. i don't understand why so many people are disatisfied with the current job situation, then when some obtain a job, they never come to it regularly.

Specializes in private duty/home health, med/surg.

Once your intermittent FMLA has been approved, you can "call in FMLA." And your employer is not allowed to ask for proof or any kind of verification that your call-in really is FMLA-related.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"It does! It's a big deal, involving a lot of paperwork with HR in order to get it approved.You can't just "call in FMLA". No, of course you can't initially just call in FMLA. But the employer does not "approve" FMLA either. If you qualify, you invoke FMLA, you fill out the paperwork, and that is that. It is not up to the employer to approve or disapprove.

And yes, after that, you CAN "call in FMLA."

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Once your intermittent FMLA has been approved, you can "call in FMLA." And your employer is not allowed to ask for proof or any kind of verification that your call-in really is FMLA-related.

Yikes.

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Specializes in babysitting.
I'm confused. I thought you were suffering through unreasonable hours in your surgical tech program, according to a PP. Are you working as well? In what capacity?

yes, i do work. hence, no sleep and venting. i have tons of bills to pay and cannot afford to quit my job for this program that i am in.

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Specializes in babysitting.
From your profile it looks like you are Canadian? And not a nurse? I'm confused, please clarify so we all understand. In the US the FMLA must be approved by your employer beforehand and allows you to take up to 3 (?) months off for the birth, critical illness or death of a direct family member. You cannot use it for a day here or there, it is for a long leave otherwise not allowed by employers. When a coworker tried to use it for her sister who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer she was denied as it didn't fit the definition as immediate family. Either your employer allows insane violations, you are in CA and talking about a different law, or something else is going on.

yes, i was born in canada but move to the states when i was like 14 with parents.

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Specializes in babysitting.
From your profile it looks like you are Canadian? And not a nurse? I'm confused, please clarify so we all understand. In the US the FMLA must be approved by your employer beforehand and allows you to take up to 3 (?) months off for the birth, critical illness or death of a direct family member. You cannot use it for a day here or there, it is for a long leave otherwise not allowed by employers. When a coworker tried to use it for her sister who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer she was denied as it didn't fit the definition as immediate family. Either your employer allows insane violations, you are in CA and talking about a different law, or something else is going on.

also, you don't understand. when someone calls in and uses their fmla they will lie and say they are sick or something of that nature. of course you don't really think someone is calling in on fmla stating they are going to a wedding. people lie, that is the whole point. and some of these people do have documentation that has been approved by the employer, but that doesn't mean they are sick everyday. they can still abuse fmla. i can get fmla today for instance over a severe headache with mri's to prove. then one day next week my head may be ok, perfectly fine, but i may not feel like going in to work and use that as an excuse. this is what i'm speaking of.

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Specializes in babysitting.
Sometimes it does cause problems, esp with staffing. Right now we have 6 people out on FMLA for pregnancy, 4 out for surgical and multiple others that have intermittant FMLA. (We are a staff of about 95, needing 16-17 nurses per shift) We are having a hard time staffing right now. And it does seem that some people abuse that intermittant FMLA...seems to be a lot of headaches, etc on Fridays and Mondays (they won't call off on Sat or Sun because they have to make up the weekends). There are people who abuse it, that is for sure.

And don't say increase the float pool, we have a limited float pool, don't use agency and do not float outside of our departments (ie maternal child).

that is so true. we have this one lady supposing to be upset with management for some circumstance that happened. so what she does is call off every monday and friday on fmla, but guess what? she shows every Sat. ! even her Saturdays off.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

OP, I'm sorry that you are having a bad year. Between your school that you're unhappy with and your work as well, I hope that the new year brings you more satisfaction.

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Specializes in Health Information Management.

Yes, FMLA can be abused. So can sick days. Any law or policy can be abused by those unscrupulous enough to search out and exploit the relevant loopholes or weaknesses. On the other hand, FMLA has also allowed countless hard-working and honest employees with a variety of illnesses, injuries, or family medical situations to remain in their jobs. This also saves the employers the associated costs of laying off such employees and hiring/training new staff members and in many cases saves US taxpayers the cost of such employees ending up on SSI disability.

In my experience, FMLA has proven to be an excellent and beneficial law. If employers had (and frequently used) the power to simply dismiss anyone who ended up with a serious injury requiring a couple of months off of work, a chronic health condition with flare-ups necessitating intermittent brief periods of leave, or an elderly family member for whom the employee had to serve as a caregiver, how many people would be able to keep their jobs over the long haul? Just because a few bad apples misuse the provisions of FMLA doesn't make the law detrimental to health care facilities in general.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i know fmla can be abused. i've watched some of my co-workers and even my own dh abuse it. but it can also be a godsend. when i injured my back and was out for six months, it was fmla that kept my job (and benefits). and when i had to fly back to the midwest to care for my mother, once again it was fmla that saved my bacon.

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Specializes in ICU/ER/L&D.

I agree, FMLA is fantastic for those who use it as intended.

Can I also say: AlsgalRN, I think you're amazing.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
to me it seems that fmla can be detrimental to hospitals/companies. where i work, we have soooo many call-ins where they're using fmla. almost everyday for months now we have at least 2 or 3 call ins from fmla alone. we end up short staffed and having to work over time just to play catch up when the company claims to already be hurting from the overtime and have put a freeze on hiring even acquiring temps. i personally know of several people who abuse the fmla when there is nothing wrong with them. this one lady used her fmla to have a birthday party for her son, and another used hers to participate in a wedding. i don't understand why so many people are disatisfied with the current job situation, then when some obtain a job, they never come to it regularly.

Understand, that those employees have had to turn in tons of paperwork to HR in order to apply for FMLA, many of those days off are taken without pay (unless they have saved enough vacation time).

You never know when you will need it yourself.

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