Ellen McLaughlin Quoted HR Magazine
"Leave Law Spurs Policy Changes"

Ellen McLauglin was quoted in the March 2, 2009 issue of HR Magazine in the article, "Leave Law Spurs Policy Changes." The article discussed how the first significant overhaul of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will give employers the opportunity to improve upon their FMLA administration. Ellen remarked, “If you don’t have a procedure, you could set one up now and enforce it.” She pointed out, “It should name a specific position—not a person—to call. Before, you couldn’t designate a specific person—the employee could call [his or her] manager, and that would be considered a legitimate request for leave, even if you required the person to call HR. Think about whether to designate HR or the employee’s manager.” According to Ellen, “HR isn’t there in the middle of the night, but the manager is. It could be confusing to employees to have two positions designated to take the call. The person who takes the call should know to ask questions designed to make sure the employee is properly designating the leave as FMLA leave. The employee has to refer to the FMLA or refer back to an original FMLA certification. Just calling in sick won’t be enough,” she concluded.