Employees' Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family Medical Leave Act allows employees unpaid leave while protecting their job. Employers with more than 50 employees are subject to FMLA and must provide coverage to eligible employees. Public agencies are covered regardless of the number of employees, as are public and private schools. Most federal agencies are also subject to the act.
Other People Are Reading
-
Employee Rights: Entitlement
-
Employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period due to their own serious health condition, to care for a parent, spouse or child who has a serious health condition, or to bond with a newborn, adopted or fostered child. Employees may also be entitled to leave to deal with "qualifying exigencies" related to active duty in the U.S. military, or up to 26 weeks of leave to care for an ill or injured service member.
Employee Rights: Eligibility
-
To be eligible for leave, employees must be based at a worksite that has 50 or more employees, or employed by a company that employs at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the employee's worksite. The employee must have worked at least 1,250 regular hours (overtime is not included) in the previous 12 months, and have worked for the company for at least 12 months (this does not have to be consecutively).
-
Employee Rights: Protection
-
Employers must maintain health benefits for employees while they are taking FMLA in the same manner as if the employee was working. In addition, employees must be returned to their same or equivalent position when they return, and cannot lose any existing employment related benefits due to their use of FMLA. Employers may not discriminate against employees for using FMLA and are prohibited from denying employees leave or firing them for using it.
Employee Rights: Use
-
Employees may take leave in continuous blocks, or can apply for intermittent leave for an ongoing condition. Intermittent leave can be taken as needed over a 12-month period. The employee may not exceed 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period, regardless of whether the leave is intermittent, continuous or a combination of both. Employees should schedule any appointments to minimize disruption to business operations.
Employee Responsibilities: Notice
-
Employees are required to give as much advance notice of the need for leave as possible. For planned absences, the regulations obligate employees to give at least 30 days notice to the employer. If 30 days is not possible, or if the absence is unanticipated, the employee must give as much notice "as practicable." FMLA may be legally delayed by the employer if an employee "fails to give timely advance notice with no reasonable excuse." The same principle applies for unanticipated absences. The act also provides that employees should follow the employer's existing policies and procedures for calling in.
Employee Responsibilities: Certification
-
Although there is no obligation for the employee to even mention FMLA when requesting leave, employees are responsible for providing the reason for the leave, such that the employer can determine if it is FMLA qualifying. This does not mean employees have to tell the employer the name or symptoms of the serious medical condition, it just means they must make the employer aware of the existence of the serious medical condition. Employees should provide a "complete and sufficient certification" to the employer within five days of the verbal notification of need for leave. Employees can be told to provide re-certification if the employer "has reason to question the appropriateness of the leave or its duration." Re-certification is also required at the end of each annual period for ongoing intermittent leave.
-
References
- Photo Credit medical help image by Wojciech Gajda from Fotolia.com
