Small Firms Escape Family Medical Leave Compliance

Question: Does a person have to accept the Family Medical Leave Act’s free medical benefits, where your employer continues to pay them while you’re on leave, for maternity for example, or can an employee say “I don’t want it because it will later cause financial problems in my company?”

--M.G., Costa Mesa

Answer: If your company has fewer than 50 employees there is no obligation to comply with the Family Leave Act. The employer would be required to comply with the criteria established in the health insurance plan document. If your employer has 50 or more employees, the company would be required to maintain health care coverage under any group health plan for the duration of leave under the same terms and conditions as if employees had continued employment. Some employers require that active employees pay a portion or full premium costs for themselves or dependents. The same expectations may be requested of employees during leave time. Many group health plans have a stipulation for employees to allow a waiver of their option for health insurance coverage, which should be in writing. There may or may not be any extreme financial problem for yourself or the company. I recommend you meet with the company benefits representative and discuss your benefit choices.

--Elizabeth Winfree Lydon, senior staff consultant, the Employers Group

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Question: Our company has been using a test that supposedly measures a person’s honesty and propensity to steal. How good are these tests? I looked at the questions and it looks like someone could figure out the “right’ answers if they wanted to beat the test. Is this true?

--D.D., Fullerton

Answer: Recent research has shown that integrity tests are fairly good at predicting employee dishonesty and “counterproductive behaviors,” such as chronic tardiness and taking extended work breaks. As you guessed, however, one problem with such tests is that a knowledgeable person might be able to “beat” the test, although actual instances of this would probably be rare. One potential problem with integrity/honesty tests is the same problem that led to the federal government’s ban on polygraphs or lie detectors. This concerns what are called “false positives”--truly honest persons who are erroneously judged dishonest by the test. The issue surrounding such employee testing is quite controversial. It you would like to read more on the subject, there is a very good recent book by Dr. Kevin R. Murphy of Colorado State University entitled “Honesty in the Workplace” (1993, Brooks/Cole Publishers).

--Ron Riggio, professor of industrial psychology

Cal State Fullerton