NTA Personnel Policy Committee Meeting November 12, 1997

To: Personnel Policy Committee

From: Nan Kern

Date: November 19, 1997

Re: Personnel Policy Committee Meeting November 12, 1997

The Northern Textile Association Personnel Policy Committee met on November 12, 1997 at the Best Western Lord Wakefield Hotel, Wakefield, MA. In attendance were: Tara Schultz and Mike Schwotzer, BF Goodrich Company; Alexis K. Paskevich and Irene Niemi, Dorr Woolen Company; Mickie Richardson, Homestead Industries, Tami Boyd, Joanne Meyer and Bill Noble, Intermark Fabric Corporation; Cindy A. Letourneau, Key Polymer Corporation; Dan Brown, L.W. Packard & Co., Inc.; Kathy Skala, Malden Mills Industries; Mary Vachon, Raffi and Swanson; Patricia Dupuis, Spectro Coating Corporation; Nan Kern, Northern Textile Association.

Worker education and recruitment

Nan Kern distributed an article from the Fall River, MA Herald News, entitled, “Businesses, BCC form consortium to teach workers,” that mentioned two NTA companies, Globe Manufacturing and Quaker Fabrics Corporation that have joined in the consortium.

Occupational safety and health update

Another article, from the Biddeford ME paper , “OSHA cites textile mill in Lisbon,” reported a non-NTA member company that was heavily fined for 24 alleged health and safety violations.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of NTA’s Personnel Policy Committee will be Wednesday, March 11 at the Best Western Lord Wakefield Hotel in Wakefield, MA. The association will arrange for a speaker from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to speak on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Family and Medical Leave Act

Joseph DiJulia, New England FMLA Coordinator, U.S. Department of Labor spoke to the group about the Family and Medical Leave Act. He began by giving the history of this relatively new law, shared how the US Department of Labor worked to create the regulations, discussed the responsibilities of the employer, answered many questions, and ended the meeting with an invitation to phone him if anyone had questions or concerns.

Notes from talk given by Joseph DiJulia,
New England FMLA Coordinator,
US Department of Labor

If you have a question, please call 617-565-2066 (fax: 617-565-3700) between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 and your call will be answered by a “real person.” The office tries to be open to people.

The FMLA was signed into law on February 5, 1993, and was one of the first laws that President Clinton signed.

Human Resource managers must have some basic understanding of this law. Listed below is some of the important information with which an employer should be familiar.

· It is up to the employer to designate whether an employee’s leave will be FMLA. One of the problems that frequently occurs is that the employer fails to designate the leave.

· The law poses heavy burdens on the employer. He must provide certain notice requirements.

· A private employer with 50 or more employees for 20 or more weeks per year must provide for FMLA. This limit of 50 employees may be substantially lowered in the future.

·        An employee may take up to a total of 12 weeks (more in some states) of unpaid leave during any 12 month period for:
      birth of a child
      adoption of a child
      care for an immediate family member
      the employee’s own serious health condition

· Men as well as women can take this leave.

· The employee is also entitled to job restoration and receives benefits (if the employer pays 100% medical benefits, then this must still be paid during the employee’s leave.)

· If husband and wife work for same employer, they are jointly entitled to the 12 weeks of leave (for example, each gets 6 weeks of leave for birth of child.)

· Employees may take intermittent leaves, but they must be approved by employer.

· Treatment of substance abuse is considered a serious health condition and is appropriate for FMLA. Similarly, an overnight stay in a hospital also qualifies as a serious health condition.

· Companies must reference FMLA in the employee handbook. Employer can request a poster to hang on the wall for employees to see.

The U.S. Department of Labor tries to solve problems by negotiation. They will go out to the company and look at records, interviewing both employer and employee.

If an employer has a question that he feels has not been satisfactorily answered by the local office, he can write to the Department in Washington and request a legal opinion. Put question on letterhead, making sure phone number is evident.