For HR Managers, only part of their job is complete once employees enter substance rehabilitation treatment. You may have had to encourage a faculty or staff member to enter treatment—this could have even been a last chance at saving the person’s life and career. But, after treatment, there is still a great deal of HR effort that must go into helping that person transition back into the daily flow of your school.
What You Should Know
As noted on Workforce.com, patients leaving rehabs are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. After treatment, they can return to work without having to explain to their managers or fellow colleagues where they have been or why. The law states that the only communication needed about the employee’s time off to managers is to inform them that the employee is taking leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and his or her anticipated return date.
Your school’s policies (which need to be outlined in your employee handbook) will dictate how this process works and how you handle communications. However, it’s important as the HR Manager (or dedicated HR administrator) that you understand that FMLA doesn’t require disclosure—and, in fact, protects the employee’s privacy. Your faculty and staff might have a million questions about their absent colleague, but it is not your responsibility to satisfy their inquiry—rather it is your responsibility to protect your absent employee’s privacy. Dealing with a situation such as this might be an opportunity for you to stretch your HR wings and walk everyone through an exercise in FMLA compliance.
Beyond controlling gossip and managing communications, you should also know that your school, as with all employers, must comply with the limitations its health care provider deems necessary for recovery, such as time off for doctor appointments and introductory limits on working hours. Your policies must to allow for this. If the employee’s position requires full-time attention, you might have to fill the position with temporary part-time assistance or make arrangements with other employees to meet your returning employee’s responsibilities.
Your employee’s medical needs should be addressed in your return-to-work agreement; the rehab facility should provide a draft before discharging the employee. The agreement should include continued treatment plans, how much time the person is allowed to be back at work upon immediate discharge (as well as plans and targeted date to return to full-time), and whether the employee will be periodically tested for drugs and/or alcohol. It’s also a good idea to include your school’s policy on drugs and alcohol use while on campus during regular school hours as well as special events that extend beyond the school day.
This agreement should also include the basics such as salary, start and finish times, training, mentor support, overall tasks and responsibilities, and travel plans (if travel is included in the position’s responsibilities). It’s also a good idea to include scheduled review times—weekly reports, after two weeks, etc.
As noted on Workforce.com, this type of agreement and return-to-work meeting can be uncomfortable for HR Managers. It’s not something that is handled often, and can be intimidating to say the least. The site suggests conducting your meeting as you would if you were handling an employee returning from a heart attack, avoiding over-sympathetic comments.
For those completely unfamiliar with return-to-work agreements, here is a FAQ sheet from nonprofitrisk.org. Of course, remember that your school’s attorney should be involved in this process.
Your Role
As an HR Manager, you are the returning employee's ally. It is your role to help this employee transition back into the flow of your school, understand his or her needs (being compassionate to the sensitivity of his/her situation), and helping to create an atmosphere of cooperation among fellow colleagues.
Again, the returning employee doesn’t have to disclose where he/she has been to anyone—not even those he/she works with daily. It is your job to inform his or her manager that the employee is taking FMLA leave, and then get him/her back into the groove with tips and tricks on handling speculations and inquisitions.
Creating an atmosphere where the employee can return feeling confident and comfortable is where your work really begins.
You need to be certain that the returning employee understands your school’s policies clearly. We’ll assume that no drug or alcohol use on your campus is to be tolerated, and that your employee handbook has a clear policy on how such behavior will be handled. Often employees returning to work after attending a treatment facility return on “probation,” or as a last chance. Remember, the person’s recovery is his or her responsibility; your role is to help them transition back, not pardon unacceptable behaviors. The employee should be aware that, although you’re supportive of the situation, your school’s policies are firm as are your outlined disciplinary actions. Coming to work impaired will not be tolerated!
Setting up a Welcome Back Orientation is a good idea for faculty and staff members who have been on leave for some time—for any reason(s). This is where you would host a meeting for the returning employee and those who directly work with him/her. You will need to make the expectations for all attending clear.
If the returning employee is coming back to work under a "last chance" agreement, you will want to work with your school’s lawyer before setting up the Welcome Back Orientation. The rules that will need to be outlined to this employee might extend those in your employee handbook, and should be advised by legal counsel. It’s a delicate balance between “holding employees to higher expectations” and “strike three and you’re out employment.” Yes, you need to exhibit compassion for both the returning employee and your school’s overall welfare. But, at the end of the day, your real focus is on your students. If your returning employee is putting children at risk, then in our opinion, it’s a risk not worth taking.
Reviewing the FMLA Basics
- When an employee returns from FMLA leave, he or she must be reinstated to the same or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and terms of employment.
- Eligible employees of covered employers can take FMLA leave for the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child, the placement of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement, care for a family member with a serious health condition, the employees own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of his or her job, and certain reasons related to the military service of the employee’s family member (military caregiver leave).
- For an employee to be eligible for FMLA leave, he or she must have been employed for 12 months, although time does not have to be consecutive. However, if the time totaling 12 months is separated by a period of more than seven years, the law dose not consider this to qualify for FMLA leave.
- During FMLA leave, the employee’s health coverage under any Group Health Plan must be maintained under the same terms and conditions as coverage would have been if the employee had not taken leave.
- If the employer’s health care plan changes while the employee is on leave, the employee is entitled to the new or changed plan or benefits to the same extent as if the employee did not take leave.
- For more information about FMLA leave, click here to be taken to the United States Department of Labor.
Additional ISM resources of interest
Private School News Vol. 12 No. 1 FMLA Requests
Additional ISM resources of interest for Gold Consortium members
I&P Vol. 33 No. 16 Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Updates and Reminders for Private-Independent Schools
