Facebook Messenger for FMLA leave requests? Maybe

Even with absences covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an employer is entitled to put policies in place describing how employees must notify the employer about their health-related absences. As the means of communicating with supervisors have changed and increased over time, whether an employee has given adequate notice of their absence through some electronic methods can become an issue when there’s a dispute about an individual’s entitlement to FMLA coverage.

Attendance policy

Gestamp West Virginia, LLC, manufactures auto parts in South Charleston, West Virginia. Under Gestamp’s attendance and leave policies, employees must notify their group leader at least 30 minutes before their shift begins if they will be late or absent. Employees are required to use a call-in line to provide this notice. The call-in line number is posted on a bulletin board, and Gestamp gives each employee a card bearing the call-in number.

Surgery, infection, and absences from work

Kasey Roberts worked on the assembly line at Gestamp, and Gary Slater was his group leader. After undergoing an emergency appendectomy in June, Roberts sent Slater a Facebook message explaining his situation. Slater and Roberts continued to communicate with one another via Facebook Messenger after the surgery, and Roberts told Slater he would miss work for two weeks while he recovered. After he was released from the hospital, Roberts dropped off a physician’s note to the company confirming the need to miss work for recovery.