Family & Medical Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows employees to balance their work and family life by taking reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. The FMLA applies to all public agencies, including state, local and federal employers, and local education agencies (schools), and to all private sector employers who employ 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

• the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;

• the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;

• to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;

• a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;

• any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or

• Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must work for a covered employer and:

• have worked for that employer for at least 12 months; and

• have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the FMLA leave; and,

• work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed at the location or within 75 miles of the location

Your employer must notify you if you are eligible for FMLA leave within five business days of your first leave request. If the employer says that you are not eligible, it has to state at least one reason why you are not eligible (for example, you have not worked for the employer for a total of 12 months). At the same time that your employer gives you an eligibility notice, it must also give you a notice of your rights and responsibilities under the FMLA. This notice must include all of the following:

A definition of the 12-month period the employer uses to keep track of FMLA usage. It can be a calendar year, 12 months from the first time you take leave, a fixed year such as your anniversary date, or a rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date you use FMLA leave. You need to know which way your employer measures the 12-month window so that you can be sure of how much FMLA leave you have available when you need it.

• Whether you will be required to provide medical certification from a health care provider.

• Your right to use paid leave.

• Whether your employer will require you to use your paid leave.

• Your right to maintain your health benefits and whether you will be required to make premium payments.

• Your right to return to your job at the end of your FMLA leave.

When your employer has the information necessary to determine if your leave is FMLA protected, it must notify you whether the leave will be designated as FMLA leave and, if possible, how much leave will be counted against your FMLA entitlement. If your employer determines that your leave is not covered by FMLA, it must notify you of that determination.

The FMLA permits employees to take leave on an intermittent basis or to work a reduced schedule when medically necessary to care for a seriously ill family member, or because of the employee's serious health condition. In caring for a newborn or newly placed adopted or foster care child, intermittent leave may be taken only with the employer's approval. Only the amount of leave actually taken while on intermittent/reduced schedule leave may be charged as FMLA leave. Employees may not be required to take more FMLA leave than necessary to address the circumstances that cause the need for leave.

Employees needing intermittent/reduced schedule leave for foreseeable medical treatment must work with their employers to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer's operations. In such cases, the employer may temporarily transfer the employee to an alternative job, with equivalent pay and benefits, that better accommodates recurring periods of leave than the regular job.