Postal Union's Need Your Help to Preserve FMLA

The American Postal Workers Union is seeking the assistance of union brothers and sisters to help preserve YOUR RIGHTS under FMLA. Union Activists Urged to Fight Proposals to Gut FMLA, is the call for assistance from APWU President Burrus. The following is an excerpt from the APWU website identifying some of the regulation issues.

Among the anti-worker regulations presented by the Department of Labor:

* Employees with chronic conditions could be required to see their doctors more frequently than the current one time per year. Employees would have to pay for the extra visits out of their own pockets.

* Employers could authorize anyone they choose to demand information to support FMLA absences; under the current rules, employees are required to share medical information only with medical professionals.

* The proposed rules would widen the discretion of low-level supervisors to force employees to seek second medical opinions — at the employees’ expense— to determine the facts of a “diagnosis or prognosis.” Under current rules if those facts are unclear, the cost of a second opinion is charged to the employer.

* Employees who typically work overtime could be charged overtime hours as FMLA leave during their absence. In other words, they risk using FMLA protection at a faster rate.



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