The Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers to give an employee up to 12 weeks off per year to care for a seriously ill family member, recuperate from a serious illness or take care of a newly born or adopted child. Employees have the right to be reinstated when they return from leave but FMLA leave is unpaid leave and that may cause serious financial difficulties.

An employee is entitled to FMLA leave if:

• the employer has 50 or more employees who work within a 75 mile radius
• the employee has worked for the employer for at least 12 months
• the employee has worked at least 1,250 hours (25 hours a week) during the 12 months preceding the leave.

In addition you must be seeking leave for:

• birth, adoption or foster care
• a serious health condition
• a family member’s serious health condition (parents, spouses and children)

An eligible employee can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in any 12-month period for the reasons above. When the leave ends, the employer must reinstate the employee to the same position previously held. This is however subject to these conditions:

• if the position is eliminated while on leave, the employee cannot be reinstated
• if the position is among the highest paid 10% of the employer’s salaried workforce within a 75 mile radius of the workplace and reinstating would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the company, the employer can refuse to reinstate

If the employer provides a group health plan, the employee is entitled to continued insurance coverage while on leave but if the employee decides not to return to work, the employer can demand reimbursement for premiums paid during the leave. The employer can also demand substitution of accrued vacation/sick leave for FMLA leave. The employer is not required to allow intermittent leave (f.e. repeated therapy sessions), but the employer may agree to it.

More information can be found at the Department of Labor.

Contributed by JD at 3:06 pm under Legal issues.