A supervisor/manager may be held personally liable for FMLA violations even if they did not intend to violate the employee’s Family & Medical Leave Act rights. Additional, they do not need to be a high-level official or have the final authority over the employee to be held liable.
Many companies are not aware of the fact that certain federal laws can assign personal liability to supervisors and managers for their roles in decisions that adversely impact an employee. The following is a list of federal laws categorized by liability.
Supervisors/Managers may be held personally liable for violations of these federal laws:
– Fair Labor Standards Act
– Employee Polygraph Protection Act
– Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act
– Family & Medical Leave Act (varies by Federal Circuit Court decisions).
Supervisors/Managers can’t be held personally liable under:
– Pregnancy Discrimination Act
– Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
– Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
– Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Companies must train their managers to consider FMLA and ADA issues prior to any discipline for excessive absenteeism. Additionally, the company is still liable in all situations even though a manager lacks personal liability.