The Connecticut Department of Labor has just posted a form for employers to fill out online regarding their experiences with the use of FMLA for the 2007 calendar year. Filling out this form is required by state regulation for employers who are subject to the Act.
The Department’s website has the details:
If your company employed 75 or more employees in Connecticut as of October 1, 2006 you are subject to the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act and as such your response is needed for the Labor Commissioner’s report. Kindly take a moment to complete this form ant transmit it back to us before April 1, 2008. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
What the website does not specify is that the use of this form is actually mandated by state regulations. Specifically, Conn. Reg. Sec. 31-51qq-48 states that
(b) Employers shall report the following data for each calendar year for which they are subject to the Act:
(1) Employer’s name;
(2) Number of employees;
(3) Number of family leaves approved for birth or adoption, and duration;
(4) Number of family leaves approved for family illness, and duration;
(5) Number of medical leaves approved, and duration;
(6) Any other information the Commissioner determines necessary to assess the current experience of employers with medical and family leaves of absence. Any family or medical leave approved under the Act which includes less than five days unpaid leave need not be reported to the Labor Department.
Although the language of the regulation suggests that compliance is mandatory, there is no indication in the regulation for the "punishment" for failure to comply. Nevertheless, there also appears to be no "harm" in filling out the form either. The goal of this form and report appears to be simply to track the progress and use of the state FMLA laws.
Employers may receive notice of this form via the mail later this winter, but it is an easy item to get a head start on. Once the numbers are compiled, the form can likely be filled out in just a few minutes.