During HR spring cleaning, don’t forget your employee handbooks

Employee handbooks should be reviewed at least once a year. The arrival of spring 2022 marks a good time to revisit the manuals with counsel and update your policies and practices. Read on to learn about a handful of handbook best practices as well as possible pitfalls you can avoid.

Explain how family leave is calculated

Similar to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Vermont’s Parental and Family Leave Act (PFLA) provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for (1) their own serious illness or that of a family member or (2) the pregnancy, birth, or adoption of a child under the age of 16 years. In handbooks (for FMLA and/or PFLA leave alike), you should be sure to include how the 12-month period is calculated:

• 12-month calendar year;
• 12-month period measured forward from the first date an employee takes leave; or
• Rolling 12-month period, looking backward.

In a backward-looking, 12-month rolling period, for example, the leave available to employees would be calculated backward 12 months from when the PFLA period begins. If they planned to begin the leave on July 31 and had already used six weeks of the leave in the 12 months before that date (i.e., from the previous August 1 through July 31), they would have six weeks of PFLA leave remaining.

If the method for calculating the 12-month period isn’t specified, the default is whatever approach is most advantageous to the employee.

Avoid introductory periods