Family Related Issues - Essay Example

The act classifies a parent as either biological, adoptive, step or foster parent or any other individual who took care of the employee when he/she was a child. The act further recognizes a son or daughter by biological means, adoption, foster, stepchild or legal ward child. The act does not imply that for a person to qualify leave under FMLA, to cater for his parent that the parent must have cared for the workers when he/she was a child (Effland & Kelly, 2009). The act recognizes a natal father as a parent even if the person did not bring up the child.

A person also qualifies as a parent if the brought up the child, but they are not the biological parent. Tony was, therefore, qualified for the leave he had requested. It did not matter whether his biological father took care of him as a child; he qualifies as a parent. Q2. Explain whether the size of the business can have any effect on whether Tony is eligible for family leave under the FMLA According to FMLA, an eligible employee is an employee of a covered employer who has been in employment for a minimum of 12 months and has worked for a minimum of 1,250 hours during the 12-month period (ECFR, 2012).

The employee also needs to be in employment at a worksite where the company sustains a staff of 50 or more on the payroll, and are within 75 miles of the worksite. The act does not discriminate on whether a person works part time or full time; as long as they have worked for the hours specified. For casual laborers, 52 weeks count as 12 months. The business needs to have at least 50 workers within 75 miles of the work site. The work site may be a single location or a variety of locations. Separate buildings may pass as one worksite if the buildings are close to each other; serve the same purpose and share staff and equipment.

The size of the business may affect whether Tony qualifies for leave. The business need to have, at least, 50 employees in its payroll, whether they are permanent or casual. Herman’s business has over 50 employees, though not all of them are fulltime employees. The size of the business is, therefore, not a valid reason for denying Tony leave; additionally the reason that Harman gives that others will ask for leave if Tony gets leave is also not valid. Q3. Explain whether Herman can or cannot imply that if Tony takes a leave of absence under the FMLA, he may not have a job when he returns Since Tony qualifies for leave under FMLA, Tony has rights to several privileges.

On return from leave, Tony should return to his previous post, regarding pay and other terms of employment. The act, however, foresees situations in which a business may restructure in order to accommodate the absence of an employee, or the employer may replace the worker (ECFR, 2012). In such cases, the employer has to reinstate the worker to a position identical to his previous place in terms of pay and terms. The duties must be similar, requiring the same skill, and bearing the same authority and responsibilities.

The employee is also entitled to any pay increases in salary that happened while on leave; however, in the case of bonuses, it is dependent whether the bonus has ties to any achievement. In such a case, the employee will be under evaluation for qualification for the bonus. The only exemption from fulfilling these requirements is concerning aspects of the job that are not measurable or tangible. Harman is not justified in threatening to fire Tony