Legal Update Header An employee working a “one week on, one week off” schedule who takes 12 workweeks of federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave may be required to return to work 12 weeks later, a federal appeals court has held.

In Scalia v. State of Alaska, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that an employer may count both “on” and “off” weeks against the FMLA leave entitlement of an employee on a rotating schedule. Ninth Circuit decisions apply in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The opinion was issued Jan. 15, 2021.

Legal Update Header On Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) proposed delaying the effective date for the Independent Contractor final rule from Mar. 8, 2021 to May 7, 2021.

The WHD is proposing the delay to allow sufficient time for the agency to review the final rule as required by the memorandum President Biden issued on Jan. 20, freezing regulatory changes adopted late into the previous administration.