When you grant an employee’s family and medical leave request you must guarantee to reinstate the employee to the same or a comparable position.
Only under very limited circumstances can you refuse to honor the reinstatement guarantee.
Employment in a “comparable position” means employment in a position virtually identical to the employee’s original position in terms of pay, benefits and working conditions, including privileges, fringe benefits and status. It must involve the same or substantially similar duties and responsibilities, which must entail substantially equivalent skill, effort, responsibility and authority. It must be performed at the same or a geographically close worksite from where the employee previously was employed. It ordinarily means the same shift or the same or an equivalent work schedule.
Though an employee has the right to return to the position held before taking a family/medical leave, this right is not absolute.
David Payab, Esq. from The Law Offices of Payab & Associates can be reached @ (818) 918-5522 or by visiting http://payablaw.com/
