Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 31 - Labor › 51qq - The Family and Medical Leave Act › Section 31-51qq-15 - May an employer transfer an employee to an "alternative position" in order to accommodate intermittent leave or a reduced schedule leave?

Current through July 10, 2024
(a) If an employee needs intermittent leave
			 or leave on a reduced schedule that is foreseeable based on planned medical
			 treatment, including recovery therefrom, for the employee's serious health
			 condition, for a family member's serious health condition, for the employee to
			 serve as an organ or bone marrow donor or for a covered servicemember's, as
			 defined by section 31-51qq-50(a)(1) of the Regulations of Connecticut State
			 Agencies, serious injury or illness, or if the employer agrees to permit
			 intermittent leave or reduced schedule leave for the birth of a child or the
			 placement of a child for adoption or foster care, the employer may require the
			 employee to transfer temporarily, during the period the intermittent or reduced
			 schedule leave is required, to an available alternative position for which the
			 employee is qualified and which better accommodates recurring periods of leave
			 than does the employee's regular position.
(b) The exercise of the authority to transfer
			 an employee to an alternative position, taken pursuant to this section, shall
			 not conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement between
			 such employer and a labor organization which is the collective bargaining
			 representative of the unit of which the employee is a part. In addition,
			 transfer to an alternative position may require compliance with federal and
			 state law, including the ADA and FEPA. Transfer to an alternative position may
			 include altering an existing job to better accommodate the employee's need for
			 intermittent or reduced schedule leave.
(c) The alternative position shall have
			 equivalent pay and benefits. An alternative position for these purposes does
			 not have to have equivalent duties. The employer may increase the pay and
			 benefits of an existing alternative position, so as to make them equivalent to
			 the pay and benefits of the employee's regular job. The employer may also
			 transfer the employee to a part-time job with the same hourly rate of pay and
			 benefits, provided the employee is not required to take more leave than is
			 medically necessary. For example, an employee desiring to take leave in
			 increments of four (4) hours per day could be transferred to a half-time job,
			 or could remain in the employee's same job on a part-time schedule, paying the
			 same hourly rate as the employee's previous job and enjoying the same benefits.
			 The employer may not eliminate benefits which otherwise would not be provided
			 to part-time employees; however, an employer may proportionately reduce
			 benefits such as vacation leave where an employer's normal practice is to base
			 such benefits on the number of hours worked.
(d) An employer may not transfer the employee
			 to an alternative position to discourage the employee from taking leave or
			 otherwise work a hardship on the employee. For example, an employer may not
			 transfer a white collar employee to a position performing manual job duties; an
			 employee working the day shift to a position on the graveyard shift; an
			 employee working in the headquarters facility to a branch a significant
			 distance away from the employee's normal job location. Any such attempt on the
			 part of the employer to make such a transfer shall be a prohibited act under
			 the FMLA.
(e) An employer shall
			 return an employee who has been transferred to an alternative position as a
			 result of taking leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule and who no
			 longer needs to continue on leave and is able to return to full-time work, to
			 the same or equivalent job the employee left when the leave
			 commenced.