Job Aid for Employer Survey

Job Aid

Study #22006

FMLA – Employer Survey – Cover Sheet

Updated: 10/20/17

PURPOSE: The FMLA Employer Survey has been designed to be easily administered to and understood by the respondent. The following pages are provided to help you, the telephone interviewers, address areas of potential misunderstanding during the administration of the FMLA Employer Survey.

WHEN TO USE THIS JOB AID: Consult this job aid while you are administering the questionnaire when you encounter any issues in administration or comprehension. There may be clarification in this job aid.

ACTION: If there is no clarification in this job aid, make a note of the area of concern. Notify your Supervisor.

PROCESS FOR REVIEW AND UPDATE OF JOB AID: Supervisors will meet regularly with project staff on the FMLA Employer Survey to review interviewer feedback. They will also review the questionnaire and preliminary findings to identify issues with administration and comprehension. This job aid will be updated regularly to address any areas of concern to make your administration of the questionnaire as easy as possible, both for you and the respondent.

Thank you!

Overview of last update (10/20/17):

• Q49 – clarification between A and B

• Q67 – definitions intentionally not provided

Q11 AND Q11.1 ask how many employees receive different types of leave. Q11.2-Q11.3 are asked for each type of leave if not all/ no employees receive it.

Q11.2 Do you provide paid sick leave for any staff who have worked at your company for a pre-established length of time?

1 Yes

2 No [GO TO Q11.3]

This question asks whether tenure alone qualifies employees for leave. For example, if anyone regardless of their level can get paid sick leave once they’ve worked at the company for at least 1 year then select Yes. If this paid leave benefit is not based on how long they’ve worked at the company, select No and continue to Q11.3.

Q11.3 In your entire organization, among staff who have worked here long enough, what type(s) of employees do you consider to be eligible for paid sick leave? Select all that apply.

1 Senior managers/professional staff

2 Hourly staff

3 Part-time staff

4 None of these

This question asks whether job level qualifies employees for leave. Using the example above, maybe it’s not based on how long employees have worked at the company, rather all senior managers or professional staff get paid sick leave.

Q19 asks for number of employees that took leave. Q20 asks for number of leaves taken.

Q19. At the beginning, you told us that [WORK SITE FILL] has a total of [INSERT #] employees. [From [FILL 12-MONTH PERIOD HERE]], how many of those employees took leave that you classified as being under FMLA?

Q20. [IF Q19>0] We just asked you about the total number of EMPLOYEES that have taken leave [from [INSERT 12-MONTH REFERENCE PERIOD]]. Of the [FILL NUMBER FROM Q19] employees who took leave, how many total LEAVES did they take in this same time period? A leave is time taken off for a single reason; this time could be taken all at once or intermittently over time.

[For example, one employee could take multiple leaves, such as one for their own surgery and another to care for a sick spouse. This would count as two leaves.]

(Continued on next page)

Q21 asks how many employees took leave intermittently. Q21b asks how many leaves were taken intermittently.

Q21. How many of the [FILL IN FROM Q19] employees took their leave on an intermittent basis? By intermittent, we mean taking leave a few hours or days at a time, on multiple occasions, but for the same reason.

Q21b. Of the [FILL IN FROM Q20] FMLA granted LEAVE(S) taken during the last 12 months, what percent would you estimate were taken on an intermittent basis?

Q49 asks how FMLA has impacted costs. Option A, Administrative costs, refers to the administrative costs of continuing employee’s health benefits while they are on leave. Option B, Cost of continuing benefits such as health plans during leave, refers to cost of the benefit itself excluding the administrative costs of continuing the benefit. Be sure to clarify this if necessary, especially since options A-C appear in a randomized order and therefore respondents may be asked B before A.

Q49. Over the years, has complying with the FMLA increased, decreased, or not changed each of the following? Has complying with FMLA increased, decreased, or not changed…?

[ROWS – RANDOMIZE, ASK D, E LAST]

A. Administrative costs

B. Cost of continuing benefits such as health plans during leave

C. Hiring/training costs

D. Other costs, please specify which costs: __________

E. Any additional other costs, please specify which costs: __________

1 Increased

2 Decreased

3 Not changed

(Continued on next page)

Q67 asks for the level of difficulty in dealing with leave. “Long-term leave” and “short-term leave” are not defined for this question. If respondents ask what is meant by “long-term leave” or “short-term leave,” please respond with, “Whatever it means to you.”

Q67. How easy or difficult is it for your company to deal with each of the following types of leave?

A. Planned long-term leave for a family or medical reason

B. Planned short-term leave

C. Planned intermittent leave [HYPERLINK “intermittent leave”]

D. Unplanned intermittent leave [HYPERLINK “intermittent leave”]

E. Unscheduled leave for any duration

1 Very easy

2 Somewhat easy

3 Somewhat difficult

4 Very difficult