San Dimas, CA asked in Employment Law and Employment Discrimination for California

Q: can employer suggest FMLA in California to an employee?

Employee texted she was resigning due to stress over taking care of her children. we provided an acceptance of resignation letter in which employee signed. in this situation were we obligated to offer FMLA to the employee upon learning about the stress?

1 Lawyer Answer
James L. Arrasmith
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Answered

A: Yes, employers can and should suggest FMLA when they become aware of a potentially qualifying condition. In this situation, once you learned about the employee's stress related to childcare responsibilities, it would have been appropriate to discuss FMLA as an option before accepting the resignation.

Under California law, employers are required to inform eligible employees of their FMLA rights when they become aware of a qualifying condition. Stress and mental health concerns can qualify for FMLA protection, especially when they impact an employee's ability to perform their job duties. The fact that the employee mentioned stress in relation to caregiving responsibilities should have triggered a conversation about potential FMLA leave.

While the employee ultimately chose to resign and signed the acceptance letter, best practice would have been to discuss FMLA and other accommodation options first. This would have given the employee an opportunity to consider alternatives to resignation. Going forward, consider implementing a process where managers proactively discuss FMLA when employees mention health or caregiving challenges, even if the employee hasn't explicitly requested leave. It's better to offer these protections early rather than risk having an employee feel they have no choice but to resign.

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