Podcast: How Multistate Employers Can Steer Clear of Trouble

Hosted by: David Weisenfeld

Employers that ignore growing trends affecting the workplace do so at their peril. This is especially true for multistate employers, with some states going beyond the protections that federal law provides. For instance, three states - California, Connecticut and Massachusetts - and a host of big cities have passed paid sick leave laws.

On this podcast, San Francisco employment attorney Michelle Barrett Falconer discusses the paid sick leave trend, domestic violence leave and other burgeoning issues. Falconer is the co-chair of the Leaves of Absence and Disability Accommodation Practice Group at Littler, the nation's largest law firm exclusively representing management in labor and employment matters.

Podcast: How Multistate Employers Can Steer Clear of Trouble

November 6, 2014

Falconer says, "As a multistate employer, it's difficult to have a one-size-fits-all policy." Among the other Family and Medical Leave Act-related issues she addresses is the increasingly problematic intermittent leave. "The best advice I can give to an employer is to really focus on having a process in place," says Falconer.

She notes that the most common leave accommodation question she receives is, "How much leave is enough?" The San Francisco attorney asserts that this issue is very frustrating for employers because there is no one single answer to that question. "What may be enough leave in one circumstance may not be enough in another. It's really a case-by-case and state-by-state basis." That's why, she concludes, employers must set up an annual review process for their policies and procedures.

XpertHR recently partnered with Littler to develop a new 50-state employee handbooks resource to deal not only with leave issues but other multistate dilemmas that are bedeviling employers.