The Merit Systems Protection Board has produced its first decision examining the conditions of coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 . The case was remanded for proper development of the FMLA issues raised by the defense. Under certain circumstances, this leave may be taken on an intermittent basis rather than all at once. Employees of the Postal Service are covered by the FMLA and its implementing regulations found at 29 C.F.R. Part 825. The FMLA requires that the Postal Service post, and keep posted on its premises, a notice explaining the FMLA's provisions, and that the Postal Service include information regarding FMLA entitlements and employee obligations in written guidance concerning employee benefits or leave rights.
Management fails almost universally to furnish the requisite written instructions.
The Ramey decision affirms the legal requirement that the requesting employee be given some sort of written instruction. In the absence of written instruction to the employee, discipline issued to an employee involving a serious health condition is usually open to challenge. Examples would be elective or previously-scheduled surgery. Employees usually are much more likely to remember the FMLA when seeking to be absent for a relative, while simply calling in sick for their own health situations. Also an employee who calls in an absence is not physically present to receive written instructions.