(a) An employer may waive employees' FMLA notice obligations or the
employer's own internal rules on leave notice requirements.
(b) If an employee fails to give 30 days notice for foreseeable
leave with no reasonable excuse for the delay, the employer may delay
the taking of FMLA leave until at least 30 days after the date the
employee provides notice to the employer of the need for FMLA leave.
(c) In all cases, in order for the onset of an employee's FMLA leave
to be delayed due to lack of required notice, it must be clear that the
employee had actual notice of the FMLA notice requirements. This
condition would be satisfied by the employer's proper posting of the
required notice at the worksite where the employee is employed.
Furthermore, the need for leave and the approximate date leave would be
taken must have been clearly foreseeable to the employee 30 days in
advance of the leave. For example, knowledge that an employee would
receive a telephone call about the availability of a child for adoption
at some unknown point in the future would not be sufficient.
