Leave Policy Missing In Action

A long-time employee went out on sick leave a couple of months ago, and has recently expressed the intention of remaining on leave for the next six months. The person is genuinely unable to work and has indicated informally that a return to the workforce is unlikely even though the health condition involved does not reduce life-span. I have received mixed messages from HR about what options are available to this employee and/or to me as the supervisor. For example: Can this individual remain on the payroll collecting sick leave until the leave runs out? When the paid leave runs out, can unpaid leave be continued for another three months under FMLA? Under what circumstances can an employee with sick leave available but no intention of returning to work remain on the payroll?

I don't really have any answers for you, so I'll just use your question as a jumping off point for a good rant.

Mixed messages? Are you kidding me? I mean, seriously people, this is HR 101. You must have a leave policy in place. It should contain, at minimum, the following information:

Number of days an employee can take as sick leave before going on short term disability

Number of company paid sick days (or if unlimited, then number of days before disability is required)

FMLA policy (make sure this is compliant with both Federal and State laws--some states are more generous)

At what point an employee is terminated (after FMLA expires? At 6 months? At one year?)

How all this fits with your disability (short and long term) policies

Under what conditions a manager is allowed to hire a temp or contractor to fill the duties

See, that's not so hard, right?

I mean, geesh, does HR think that no one is going to get sick? (Because that NEVER happens, right?) They should have a policy and every HR person in the company should be able to spout it out to you, consistently and clearly. (Okay, not every HR person. I don't think the HRIS people should have to know--strike that, of course they should, as they control the system that indicates whether someone is active or on leave. ALL HR PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THIS. Well, maybe compensation...)

If you don't have a policy, managers are left not knowing what to do. Then managers have to wing it. Then Manager A wings it differently than Manager B and Bob gets great leave at full pay and Maria gets terminated as soon as FMLA expires and she didn't get paid during that time frame either. What happens when Bob and Maria (I'm feeling reminiscent of Sesame Street right now) run into each other in the grocery store? (Oh Bob is a person in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neigh-bor-hood!)

Bob: Oh, Maria, I heard you were sick. Me too. I've had these persistent migraines. I'm so thankful that I'm still getting paid.

Maria: What?!?!!??! (then a few chosen expletives, which I won't write because I don't say such words.)

Bob: What are you so upset about?

Maria: I haven't gotten a check in 4 months and they terminated me 4 weeks ago.

Bob: That's strange, I've been out longer than you have.

Maria: Excuse me, I have to go call my attorney.

Is this what you want happening? No. No, you don't.

Now, my real guess is that there is a policy, it's just that your HR department is unorganized and inconsistent. Escalate this issue. Get your boss involved. There should be clear guidance. This should not be an area for manager discretion.