{"id":5553,"date":"2016-10-20T07:53:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5553"},"modified":"2016-10-20T07:53:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:53:23","slug":"in-other-news-your-government-at-work-fmla-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/in-other-news-your-government-at-work-fmla-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"In other news, your government at work, FMLA edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This, from today\u2019s Chicago Tribune: \u00a0\u201cEmergency dispatchers using federal leave to get time off<\/a>,\u201d and the headline is far more bland than the reality:<\/p>\n

Nearly half of Chicago\u2019s 911 dispatchers are off work on federal medical leave at any given time, the city\u2019s Emergency Management commissioner said Wednesday, driving up overtime costs for an agency that must ensure that enough people are working to handle calls for emergency assistance. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cIn intermittent FMLA, we have approximately 44 people every single day that call off,\u201d [Alecia] Tate-Nadeau said. \u201cThat\u2019s about 49 percent of all of the 911 operators that we have, are on some time of intermittent FMLA. Clearly this number is much larger than it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge of intermittent FMLA is that they can call that very day and say we are not going to be here,\u201d she told aldermen. \u201cSo whenever I hire folks back for overtime, I\u2019m hiring them back at a minimum of time and a half to two times the salary.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her testimony was over, Tate-Nadeau ignored a reporter\u2019s questions about whether dispatchers were using FMLA so much because OEMC officials were refusing to grant them regular days off because of staffing shortages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This last comment suggests that it\u2019s a chicken-and-egg issue: \u00a0don\u2019t get requested vacation time, take FMLA time instead, further strain the budget and staffing so that the next vacation time request is likewise refused, and so on \u2014 and a big win for workers\u2019 pocketbooks, taking vacation unpaid but getting time-and-a-half overtime hours instead.<\/p>\n

Now, the FMLA law has provisions<\/a> enabling employers to collect proof that an employee really is sick, or caring for someone who is sick; intermittent leave was really designed for those sorts of situations like an ongoing illness where you didn\u2019t need to be absent continuously. \u00a0For example, you might be able to work, but need to be absent for weekly or even more frequent medical treatments. \u00a0How it could have morphed into a means of simply taking time off, to such a massive degree, is beyond me \u2014 did the city of Chicago,\u00a0in union negotiations, agree to\u00a0implement FMLA with a \u201cno questions asked\u201d policy? \u00a0Did the entire 911 staff get fraudulent doctors\u2019 notes claiming that they suffer from migraines or other chronic conditions that would qualify for FMLA leave? Are there further provisions in union contracts that guarantee the jobs of city employees no matter what sort of fraud they engage in? \u00a0And at how many other city and county departments is this happening?<\/p>\n

In any case: \u00a0your government at work. \u00a0Again.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This, from today\u2019s Chicago Tribune: \u00a0\u201cEmergency dispatchers using federal leave to get time off,\u201d and the headline is far more bland than the reality: Nearly half of Chicago\u2019s 911 dispatchers are off work on federal medical leave at any given time, the city\u2019s Emergency Management commissioner said Wednesday, driving up overtime costs for an agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[33,201],"class_list":["post-5553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-chicago","tag-corruption"],"yoast_head":"\nIn other news, your government at work, FMLA edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This, from today's Chicago Tribune: \u00a0"Emergency dispatchers using federal leave to get time off," and the headline is far more bland than 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