People at work abusing Family Medical Leave are pissing me the fuck off.

[LostInAnomie]

I work on the extra board for a class 1 railroad and I am on call 24/7. My work comes in spurts where it is either feast of famine. I depend on the feast times to make enough money to make it through the famine. Lately though, because of people abusing the Family Medical Leave Act, we don't have enough people over the weekends to run the trains. So, instead of working consistently and being able to save up for the coming slow down, I'm forced to wait around and not work at all.

I can understand wanting to take the weekend off. I can understand maybe even wanting the take a couple days off during the week occasionally. These fuckers though are taking 3 or 4 days off a week. And, there is nothing that can be done to them because they are protected by FMLA.

Why do some people always have to fuck up a good thing?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I'm confused. If a bunch of people are off on FMLA, aren't you able to work more?

Are you guys union workers? If so, does the contract control this?

[LostInAnomie]

3. I'm a conductor. The majority of the people abusing it are engineers.

If there aren't any engineers available we can't run the trains. So, if no engineers are available I don't get to work.

Yes, we're union, but the contract sets the number of days to qualify for FMLA ridiculously low. So, as long as they FMLA abusers work a token amount of days a year they have nothing to worry about. A lot of them have side jobs that they would rather work instead of being on call for the railroad. So, they work a token amount of days, get all the benefits of being a union railroad worker, then take off anytime they feel like it. Thereby screwing the rest of us.

It fucking sucks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. OK, I get it. Makes sense now.

Doesn't management get a little heartburn if the trains don't run? I work for an airline, and I know there'd be a lot of consternation if the pilots abused their FMLA time and the planes didn't fly. Sounds like the engineers have a pretty sweet contract.

[LostInAnomie]

6. Yeah, managment gets pretty pissed about it...

... but they're in a bind too. They can't hire more workers because it takes a long time to train a worker, and since work comes in peaks and valleys, they would have to lay off the new hires when work slows down.

The engineers do have a pretty sweet contract, but the real problem is the combination of FMLA and a union makes it impossible to do anything to people that abuse it. We have a guy that takes every weekend off from Thursday night to Monday morning because he coaches on the local high school football team. Everyone knows it, but there's nothing that can be done.

[Skittles]

2. hard to believe people pull this shit in this jobs environment

there are so many people who WOULD work and not pull scams :mad:

[LostInAnomie]

4. That's exactly right.

Some of these people could be making upwards of $90k a year. Instead they pull fucking scams like this and fuck everyone else over.

[Skittles]

7. I work all the OT I can

it enables me to help unemployed friends (small things like treating them to a movie/dinner - I tell them OT money, MY TREAT!) :D

[old mark]

8. Look, I was accused of ABUSING FMLA many times when I was working...

I NEVER took off a day that was not necessary and many times I worked on days I should have taken off. The personnell/HR offices LOVE to spread lies about people who have chronic illnesses or sick family members and LOVE to make life at work hell for them by spreading this shit among other workers and blaming unfortunate sick people for every possible problem in the workplace.
People were told I was out drunk for several weeks when I had a pacemaker implanted - they even tried to deny my retirement pension on that grounds and they KNEW it was a lie.

Don't believe everything you hear from the company management or other workplace rumors of character assassination - they fucking lie, and they do it a lot. Don't spread the lies.

Mark

Former AFSCME Steward and frequent FMLA user.

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. I have some fairly serious medical issues and have FMLA coverage.

(on edit -- add last comment)
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Like Old Mark, I don't take off days that aren't NEEDED (hell, I've
used up my sick pay and can't AFFORD the hours I miss) and go in
sometimes when I almost certainly should not.
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Without FMLA, I'd be out of a job. Without a job, I'd be homeless.
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For me, with the meds I take and the dietary restrictions I have...
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... homeless = imminent death.
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Not everyone who has it abuses it and many NEED it desperately.
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HR and management (ESPECIALLY my immediate boss) have been
pretty damned understanding about the whole thing, though.
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And like I think Old Mark was saying, you almost certainly
don't KNOW for certain about what people are going through
with their health... what they're dealing with and struggling
against (I'm absolutely convinced that my pushing myself WAY
too hard to get to work is the largest factor leading up to
my last hospital stay in August) -- perhaps you ESPECIALLY
don't KNOW when it's something that "everybody knows".
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[TorchTheWitch]

10. I don't get how the workers are abusing the benefit

Are they taking this time off when they aren't entitled to it and it's somehow slipping by management? If not then how are they abusing the benefit by taking time off that they are entitled to take off? If they're entitled to it, then they get to have it... that's USING a benefit, not abusing it.

Sounds more like the problem is management doesn't want to replace needed workers with temporary or part-time workers to cover for those workers not working because they're using a benefit they're entitled to use.