What is the family medical leave act?
The family medical leave act is a labor law that was passed in 1993 in the United States. This act was put forth to protect the rights of Labours. According to it, employees can get a paid leave from their job as and when they have a need. For getting paid leave, employees need to qualify for it. For this purpose, they are required to prove that they have a genuine medical issue with their family or themselves.
Whenever employees need a paid leave on medical grounds, he writes a letter to his employer. After a thorough investigation, the employer can decide whether to accept or reject the request and write a letter to his employee in response.
What is the FMLA notification letter to the employee?
It is a special type of letter that is written in some particular situations. If an employer has conducted a probe and came to know that the employee qualifies for the medical leave with salary, he will write the FMLA notification letter to let the employee know that he is being allowed to go on leave.
Why it is important to write the FMLA notification letter?
The employer must let his employee know that his application to get the leave with salary has been approved. When the employer tells the employee about it and refers to the family medical leave act in the letter, he shows that his company is showing compliance with the rules of the state. If anything goes wrong, the employee can never complain or claim to have been exploited as labor by the company.
How to write the FMLA notification letter?
As an employer, you need to be in a better position to communicate the information with the employee. Read the instructions below and write a winning notification letter:
Comprehend the situation:
It has been told earlier that the employer investigates to determine whether the employer deserves to get the paid leave under the act of family medical leave. So, the employer should try to get a complete understanding of the situation before he decides to write the notification letter. In this letter, he may have to refer to the situation in which the paid leave has been requested. So, getting an understanding of the situation is essential.
Follow the right format:
Every letter that ensures the communication between the employer and the employee is a formal letter that necessitates everyone to write this letter in a proper format. The format of the letter needs to be accurate because the details in such letters are usually drafted concisely. So, if they are put in the wrong places, they are likely to make the letter very difficult to understand by the reader.
Refer to the request of the employee:
Before you start writing this letter, it is recommended that you refer to the request the employee had placed for getting the approval of paid leave under the act of family medical leave. Tell the employee that you have decided to accept the request of granting the medical paid leave.
Mention the paid leave details:
The employee should know about the leave that you have decided to give him. In this letter, you should try to provide him the following details:
- The duration of the leave.
- Starting and ending date of the paid leave.
- Conditions under which the leave will not be applicable.
Just for confirmation, you are suggested to reiterate the reason of the paid leave.
Give additional details:
In this letter, it is important to provide many other details that the employee wants to know other than just the notification about approval of the leave.
For example, you can tell the employee in this letter that when he returns to the work, he will be appointed to the same job position. Also, let him know about the terms and conditions of working in the company after having enjoyed the paid leave under FMLA. For example, if the company has the policy to not approve the paid leave in 5 years once the employee has taken the leave, you can mention this in the terms and conditions section.
Sample Letter
Date
Dear Mr. Mathew,
It is to notify you that the leave request, along with the supporting evidence, that you submitted on 1st June 20XX, has been approved. You are allowed to take a leave from the 15th of June 20XX till the 14th of July 20XX. You should resume work by 15th July 20XX.
We have analyzed your case under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. As your father is suffering from a severe medical condition and needs someone to look after him all the time, we have allowed you to take time off work. You are eligible to include all your paid leaves (17remaining) in this leave period as well. However, the remaining 13 days will be unpaid leaves.
In this one-month period, we expect you to arrange a full-time caretaker till you resume work, to avoid any future long leaves. In addition, we want you to be in touch with your colleagues throughout the month and sign the required documents on time to avoid any disruptions in the office work in your absence.
If you want to contact us, you may do so at [X].
Thank you.
Regards,
Jill Watson.
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