Pay during Intermittent FML and Continuous FML

[CaliBen]

Any legal issues with an employer policy that pays employees full pay when they take intermittent FML, but no pay for employees taking continuous FML?

[rr_sphr]

Going to brainstorm a bit....

how are they paying them? Through a PTO plan or just regular wages?  This is one of the downsides of the new trendy "unlimited PTO" and interaction with FMLA (https://www.hrdive.com/news/the-perks-and-pitfalls-of-unlimited-pto/549085/).

I am not an attorney, but I could see it argued that it is retaliation for taking continuous FMLA and could see employees trying to work the system where they work 1 day a week to not be on continuous but still get full pay and full FMLA protected leave, just as one example.

But I am not a fan of the unlimited PTO due to interaction with other laws (FMLA, ADA, etc) As they say "fences make good neighbors" and to me a PTO boundary makes for a good employee/employer relationship.

Another possible bad interaction could be with someone on medical intermittent (say migraines) vs a pregnancy.  PDA requires that you treat the pregnancy like other medical conditions. If you are giving virtually unlimited (480 hours per year) intermittent time and paying up to 480 hours a year, just not  in a solid continuous block, is that really consistent and nondiscriminatory? How long does intermittent have to go to become continuous?  Can o' worms

Also I could see this being related to ADA also if a reasonable accommodation was intermittent timeoff vs a block.