Search the Community

Hi to All, We just got a phone call from HR lady of our client to say that a certain participant who has a participant loan is in the process of dying of pancreatic cancer and has been out on medical leave for the last 6 months. He's not really expected to ever come back to work, but she hasn't really officially declared him to be terminated, either. The participant took out a participant loan on 12/18/2018 in the amount of $11,650.00. He made two bi-weekly payments of $119.40 on 01/14/2019 and 01/22/2019. He went out on medical leave at that point and has not made any more payments. This quarter ending June 30 is his cure period and so far he hasn't made a payment. HR lady wants to know what his options are. Can he make some little tiny payment like $100 and get another cure period running July 1 to September 30th? Could he do that twice and thereby keep his loan from going into default in 2019? I think she's asking if he can just keep this thing running until he actually passes away and then it becomes someone else's issue at that point. All the situations I have seen so far were "all or nothing" - the person was either making payments, or stopped. I don't know what happens when someone pays a little something but not enough to bring a loan up to date. Of course I know that the loan is supposed to be paid within 5 years of the loan initiation date, but does it get re-amortized each quarter, with higher payments, such that it would still be paid off theoretically within the original 5 year period? Is that even permissible? He could, of course, just let it default and pay the taxes on the deemed distribution at the end of 2019 if he's still alive and has the money to pay them. Any of your thoughts and experiences will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Employee currently out on medical leave for non work related herniated disc and lateral recess stenosis. Employee is a CNA. Frequently lifts patients (that can weigh 100 lbs or more, carries, lots of reaching, walking, standing, personal care. She's been out several times due to this condition. She's exhausted FMLA and has started medical leave with no pay. Her spine doctor says its ok for her to return to work, no restrictions.. It's a revolving door. She works a couple of weeks then hurts her back, out a couple of weeks while she gets treatment. Gets better, comes back, works a couple weeks and then she's out again. Because she's in patient care, it's important to have a same care giver to provide continuity of care. Every time she goes out, the schedule has to be revised with the other CNAs and patients and families get upset. The doctor was provided with a copy of her job description, but it seems he's just ignoring it. He doesn't want to tell her the bad news, which is she can no longer do this type of work and expect for her medical condition to get better. Since I have a doctor telling me it's ok for her to return to work, do I have to let her? It's not FMLA, she's exhausted that, she on our 90 medical leave. Which just started.... She wants to come back, but said to me that she knows that she keeps doing the same thing over and over and that expecting a different result is the definition of crazy. Employees on medical leave are not guaranteed a position upon the end of the medical leave. Any advice?