The Friday-Monday Leave Act: FMLA can't be used to create long weekends.

There's a good reason the FMLA has been saddled with the "Friday-Monday Leave Act" nickname.

In the 26 years since the law was enacted, employees have learned how to take advantage of the leave's protected status, especially if the person has been given the OK to take intermittent leave for a chronic condition.

But that doesn't mean you have to accept abusive "pattern absences" that seem to occur on Fridays, Mondays or before holidays. You may be able to refuse such intermittent leave requests without violating the FMLA. The key: knowing how to legally use your rights to request certifications (and recertifications), when to require advance notice of leave and when you can reach out to an employee's doctor (see box).

Recent case: Evan, an air traffic controller, asked for sporadic time off to bond with his new child. Typically, Evan requested Friday afternoons off and all day Saturday.

Eventually, Evan's boss began refusing those requests because it was hard to get other staff to cover.

That's when Evan put in a written request for...

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