FMLA just to avoid meetings?
March 8, 2024 5:09 AM Subscribe
Can FMLA protect me continuing to work my regular total hours/week (i.e. not using any paid leave; still getting paid like normal), if I do that work on an unconventional schedule (that would make me unavailable for most synchronous meetings)?
I’m avoiding stressors that are making a physical health condition worse. These stressors are
1. being behind on work (I need fewer meetings so I can catch up)
2. too many non-useful meetings (causing symptom flare-ups)
I’m capable of and prefer to work *if* I can do something about those stressors, and I’d prefer not eating up my leave hours if I don't have to (so I can hold them for vacation and any times I actually cannot work at all).
* I have FMLA leave already approved (intermittent, but covers up to daily use, for months).
* I’m in the U.S. in an academic job that doesn’t have formal requirements for when working hours happen, though generally we work something like 9-5 to allow for recurring and as-needed meetings.
* I work from home half the time, from the office for the other, but have flexibility over when that happens. Most meetings are over Zoom.
My guess is it's easier to get "can only work during hours most employees can't schedule meetings" approved/protected than "can't do meetings"? I'm also interested in different approaches that could meet my goals (keep doing paid work, avoid meetings).
I’m avoiding stressors that are making a physical health condition worse. These stressors are
1. being behind on work (I need fewer meetings so I can catch up)
2. too many non-useful meetings (causing symptom flare-ups)
I’m capable of and prefer to work *if* I can do something about those stressors, and I’d prefer not eating up my leave hours if I don't have to (so I can hold them for vacation and any times I actually cannot work at all).
* I have FMLA leave already approved (intermittent, but covers up to daily use, for months).
* I’m in the U.S. in an academic job that doesn’t have formal requirements for when working hours happen, though generally we work something like 9-5 to allow for recurring and as-needed meetings.
* I work from home half the time, from the office for the other, but have flexibility over when that happens. Most meetings are over Zoom.
My guess is it's easier to get "can only work during hours most employees can't schedule meetings" approved/protected than "can't do meetings"? I'm also interested in different approaches that could meet my goals (keep doing paid work, avoid meetings).
So do you actually want to work fewer hours, or do you just want to not go to these meetings - I'm not clear? If you're fine working a regular schedule, it seems like it might make more sense to ask for an accommodation regarding meetings rather than taking FMLA.
Or you might not even ask for an accommodation, just have some real talk with your boss about what you can accomplish in the time you have available (the classic, "I am not going to be able to complete Essential Tasks X and Y by Deadline Q if I am spending 10 hours a week in nonessential meetings A, B, C, and D - what do you want me to prioritize and what should I drop?"). If you're getting pushback from colleagues rather than your boss, your response might be something like, "I don't want to abandon Project J but I can't spend three hours a week in meetings for it right now," ideally followed up with something like, "but what I CAN do is M and N."
I'm not saying those approaches will definitely work! But they're a good first step before requesting medical accommodation. Because (especially in academia, in my experience) people don't necessarily care that you're gone for medical reasons and taking FMLA instead of setting a boundary is not a magic bullet that stops people from being resentful that they're sitting through these dumb meetings and you're not.
But I would be careful about just changing your hours to avoid meetings - I adjusted my schedule to four days from five and, (not exactly by coincidence) my least-favorite meeting was on the day I was now taking off! But my boss thought it was important for me to attend so after a couple months of that she moved it to one of the days I'm still working. For me, it's not *quite* worth pushing back on this so I'm going to the awful meeting again.
posted by mskyle at 5:40 AM on March 8 [6 favorites]
Or you might not even ask for an accommodation, just have some real talk with your boss about what you can accomplish in the time you have available (the classic, "I am not going to be able to complete Essential Tasks X and Y by Deadline Q if I am spending 10 hours a week in nonessential meetings A, B, C, and D - what do you want me to prioritize and what should I drop?"). If you're getting pushback from colleagues rather than your boss, your response might be something like, "I don't want to abandon Project J but I can't spend three hours a week in meetings for it right now," ideally followed up with something like, "but what I CAN do is M and N."
I'm not saying those approaches will definitely work! But they're a good first step before requesting medical accommodation. Because (especially in academia, in my experience) people don't necessarily care that you're gone for medical reasons and taking FMLA instead of setting a boundary is not a magic bullet that stops people from being resentful that they're sitting through these dumb meetings and you're not.
But I would be careful about just changing your hours to avoid meetings - I adjusted my schedule to four days from five and, (not exactly by coincidence) my least-favorite meeting was on the day I was now taking off! But my boss thought it was important for me to attend so after a couple months of that she moved it to one of the days I'm still working. For me, it's not *quite* worth pushing back on this so I'm going to the awful meeting again.
posted by mskyle at 5:40 AM on March 8 [6 favorites]
You don't say what flavour of academic job you're in, and my suggestions are going to depend somewhat on what your actual role is (faculty, staff, postdoc, ...?).
It may help to look at your schedule for the next couple of weeks and sort the meetings into categories, something along the lines of: -committee meetings (of which you're a member of the committee); -departmental/university seminars; -department/faculty meetings (to which you're "expected" to go, but not everyone does); -research collaboration meetings; -[fill in as needed].
Each of these should probably be handled differently. For seminars and the like, you can just decide you're not going to attend for the rest of the [month, semester, whatever]. For department meetings, it would probably be best to drop a note to your Chair explaining that you need to reduce your time on Zoom in order to manage symptoms. For committee and research collaboration meetings, these should not be being held if they are not useful; send an email to the entire committee or your research group to ask that the work part of the meeting be formally separated from the socializing part [or whatever it is that is making the meetings non-productive]; your fellow group members will probably thank you for this.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:40 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
It may help to look at your schedule for the next couple of weeks and sort the meetings into categories, something along the lines of: -committee meetings (of which you're a member of the committee); -departmental/university seminars; -department/faculty meetings (to which you're "expected" to go, but not everyone does); -research collaboration meetings; -[fill in as needed].
Each of these should probably be handled differently. For seminars and the like, you can just decide you're not going to attend for the rest of the [month, semester, whatever]. For department meetings, it would probably be best to drop a note to your Chair explaining that you need to reduce your time on Zoom in order to manage symptoms. For committee and research collaboration meetings, these should not be being held if they are not useful; send an email to the entire committee or your research group to ask that the work part of the meeting be formally separated from the socializing part [or whatever it is that is making the meetings non-productive]; your fellow group members will probably thank you for this.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:40 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
FMLA is short term. I'm wondering if there is another approach where you ask for a reasonable accommodation for a disability (your mental health diagnosis) that excuses you from non-essential meetings. There may be some social fall-out from this but it seems like it might address your issue in a more permanent way than just getting a couple of weeks meeting free. (Unless a couple of weeks is all you need)
posted by metahawk at 11:28 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
posted by metahawk at 11:28 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
I agree that you need to address the real issue rather than sneaking around it. Trying to plan your hours around meetings in a reactive way will be stressful in itself.
If I were in this situation, I would explain to my boss that I was spending a lot of time in meetings in which my input wasn't needed, and I could just have read the meeting minutes or transcript to stay informed. I would come up with a proposal of which meetings I will continue to attend and which I will decline, and how I plan to stay informed without attending. Depending on politics, I might ask my boss to inform the meeting organizers that I am stepping back from meetings, and to request any accomodations (such as automated transcripts summarized by AI, or how the organizer could request my attendance if it were really needed). Then, I would adhere to my plan of staying informed about the meeting content and check in with my boss proactively about how it was going. Document it too. If you can do that and it goes well, you may not need to use your FMLA and you would have a permanent solution.
Of course, so much of this depends on organizational culture.
posted by beyond_pink at 5:19 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]
If I were in this situation, I would explain to my boss that I was spending a lot of time in meetings in which my input wasn't needed, and I could just have read the meeting minutes or transcript to stay informed. I would come up with a proposal of which meetings I will continue to attend and which I will decline, and how I plan to stay informed without attending. Depending on politics, I might ask my boss to inform the meeting organizers that I am stepping back from meetings, and to request any accomodations (such as automated transcripts summarized by AI, or how the organizer could request my attendance if it were really needed). Then, I would adhere to my plan of staying informed about the meeting content and check in with my boss proactively about how it was going. Document it too. If you can do that and it goes well, you may not need to use your FMLA and you would have a permanent solution.
Of course, so much of this depends on organizational culture.
posted by beyond_pink at 5:19 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]
Also, feel free to MeMail me if you want more specific input.
posted by heatherlogan at 8:14 PM on March 8
posted by heatherlogan at 8:14 PM on March 8
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-Block out your calendar for all / most of the day so people can't schedule meetings with you.
-Ask for an agenda for meetings and why you were invited. If it doesn't align with your goals or you don't need to be there for anything, tell them that you have higher priorities.
-Ask for a meeting to be recorded, as you won't be able to attend due to higher priority items.
-Ask the organizer "do you need me in the meeting? I have some high priority stuff to catch up on." Works best with people that you have a good relationship with.
posted by chiefthe at 5:23 AM on March 8 [4 favorites]