Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
What is it?
"FMLA" provides employees with up to 12 workweeks (26 workweeks for military caregiver leave) of unpaid, job-protected leave a year, and requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees continued to work instead of taking leave.
FMLA applies to all employers who employ 50 or more employees working within a 75-mile radius for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. To be eligible for FMLA, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and 1250 hours.
What type of leave is covered and for how long?
The employer must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons:
- Birth of a child, and to care for the newborn child
- Placement of a child for adoption/foster care, and to care for the newly placed child
- To care for an ‘immediate’ family member with a serious health condition
- When the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition
- When an employee’s spouse, child or parent involved in active duty in the Armed Forces experiences a “qualifying exigency”
The employer must provide up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave in a single 12-month period for the following reason:
- To care for the employee’s spouse, child, parent or next of kin, who is a service member and has been injured while on active duty
How is it administered?
Employers are required to post specific notices and provide written information regarding FMLA to employees.
A covered employer is required to maintain group health insurance coverage, including family coverage, for an employee on FMLA leave on the same terms as if the employee continued to work. In addition, upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to his or her original job, or to an "equivalent" job, which means virtually identical to the original job in terms of pay, benefits, and other employment terms and conditions.
Additional information regarding FMLA can be obtained by clicking here.
