As several of our clients have encountered, recently employees and their counsel have argued that a woman can choose to take her federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave and her Wisconsin FMLA leave consecutively. The situation most often presents itself when a woman requests time off during pregnancy, before the birth of a child, but wants to “save” her six weeks of Wisconsin FMLA leave to use upon the birth of her child. In one case in which von Briesen & Roper represented the employer, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Equal Rights Division (“ERD”) advised an employee that she could “stack” her state and federal FMLA leave in this way. In fact, the ERD found probable cause to believe there had been a violation of the Wisconsin FMLA when an employer told an employee that her state and federal FMLA pregnancy leaves would run concurrently when taken in the 16 weeks before the birth of her child. Our client stood by its position that the federal and state FMLA laws run concurrently when the leave qualifies for protection under both laws and went to a hearing on the merits. Read more…
von Briesen Health Law Blog
