The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying conditions. Any employee who has worked for their employer for a total of at least twelve months and a minimum of 1,250 hours in the past twelve months is eligible for FMLA leave, provided that they work for an employer who has at least 50 employees. That is the basic rule of FMLA eligibility for government employees. But what about the FMLA’s exception for so-called “key employees?” Can employers take away a key employee’s right to FMLA leave?

An employee is returning to work from medical leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). How can the employer know whether the employee is sufficiently recovered to perform their job duties safely and well? The answer may seem obvious – the employer should get a fitness-for-duty certification! But the use of fitness-for-duty certifications following FMLA leave is subject to strict rules. Failure to abide by them leaves an employer open to liability for FMLA interference. 
Background

An employee is returning to work from medical leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). How can the employer know whether the employee is sufficiently recovered to perform their job duties safely and well? The answer may seem obvious – the employer should get a fitness-for-duty certification! But the use of fitness-for-duty certifications following FMLA leave is subject to strict rules. Failure to abide by them leaves an employer open to liability for FMLA interference. 
Background

“Remote work is here to stay,” says a 2022 Forbes article. Research by McKinsey & Company released in June 2022 reveals that 58 percent of Americans reported having the opportunity to work from home “at least one day a week,” and 35 percent had the option to work from home “five days a week.”

“Remote work is here to stay,” says a 2022 Forbes article. Research by McKinsey & Company released in June 2022 reveals that 58 percent of Americans reported having the opportunity to work from home “at least one day a week,” and 35 percent had the option to work from home “five days a week.”

If you are a department head, supervisor or human resources professional, you may have experienced this situation at one time or another: one of your employees has been working a second job while on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. How could the employee be well enough to work this second job but be so incapacitated that they could not work their job for you? You may have wondered, “Is this FMLA fraud?”

If you are a department head, supervisor or human resources professional, you may have experienced this situation at one time or another: one of your employees has been working a second job while on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave. How could the employee be well enough to work this second job but be so incapacitated that they could not work their job for you? You may have wondered, “Is this FMLA fraud?”

My colleague Chris McLaughlin correctly noted in 2019 that “[s]ales taxes are, for the most part, a state government issue.”  The North Carolina Department of Revenue (“NCDOR”)—not North Carolina’s local governments—administers and collects sales and use taxes.  The North Carolina General Assembly—not North Carolina’s local governments—determines how NCDOR must distribute the proceeds of sales and use taxes.

My colleague Chris McLaughlin correctly noted in 2019 that “[s]ales taxes are, for the most part, a state government issue.”  The North Carolina Department of Revenue (“NCDOR”)—not North Carolina’s local governments—administers and collects sales and use taxes.  The North Carolina General Assembly—not North Carolina’s local governments—determines how NCDOR must distribute the proceeds of sales and use taxes.

Since 2005, the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act (“LGBFCA”) has required finance officers of units of local government and public authorities in North Carolina to provide to their respective entities a “faithful performance bond with sufficient sureties in an amount not less than fifty thousand dollars.”  G.S. § 159-29(a); S.L. 2005-238, Sec.