Family & Medical Leave Act

Family and Medical Leave
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) helps employees balance the demands of work and family while caring for their own and their families’ medical problems, without risking their jobs.

FMLA provides employees with 12 weeks unpaid leave (accrued benefits may be used to remain in paid status) for each consecutive 12-month period for which eligibility criteria have been met for the following events:

• An employee's own serious health condition (including conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth)
• The birth and care of the employee's newborn child (leave must be completed within 12 months of the date of birth)
• Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care (leave must be completed within 12 months of the date of placement)
• The serious health condition of the employee's child, parent, spouse or Civil Union partner, requiring the employee's participation in the care
• Any qualifying need arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse/partner, son, daughter or parent is a covered military member on active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in support of a contingency operation

FMLA also provides up to 26 weeks unpaid leave (accrued benefits may be used to remain in paid status) during a "single 12-month period" for which eligibility criteria have been met for the following event:

• To care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the employee is the spouse/partner, son, daughter, parent or next of kin of the service member

Eligibility
To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have:

• Been employed by the University for at least 12 months (consecutive or non-consecutive)
• Worked at least 1,250 hours* during the 12-month period preceding the date FMLA leave commences

An employee meeting the above requirement is eligible for a maximum of 12 weeks of unpaid leave

*The 1,250 hours requirement is counted only for hours actually worked and does not count hours spent on vacation, sick and personal leave, etc. However, under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employees called to active (or National Guard) duties are entitled, upon their return to employment, to all the benefits of employment that they would have obtained if they had been continuously employed.

Reasons for Taking Leave
Unpaid leave may be granted for any of the following reasons:

• To care for the employee's child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care;
• To care for the employee's spouse, registered same sex domestic partner, son or daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or
• For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee's job
• Effective January 28, 2008 eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during one 12-month period for the employee to care for a spouse, child or parent who is a service member undergoing medical treatment, recuperation or therapy, is on out-patient status, or is on the temporary disabled retired list for a serious injury or illness.
• Effective January 28, 2008 eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for “any qualifying exigency” when the employee’s spouse, child or parent is on active duty or is notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces (including the Reserves and National Guard in support of a “contingency operation”)

Certain kinds of paid leave may be substituted for unpaid leave during FMLA leave since paid leave and FMLA leave are separate, but concurrent, leaves.

If the FMLA request is for the employee’s own illness, all available sick leave must be used prior to leave without pay; vacation may be used at the employee’s discretion.

If the FMLA request is for one of the approved family members, all vacation must be used prior to leave without pay. Paid sick leave used to care for the family member will be determined by the University policy or the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

The employee’s health, dental, vision and life insurance will remain in effect during the approved 12-week FMLA period and premiums will continue to be deducted from the paycheck. Should the employee exhaust their paid time and be removed from the payroll, Central Management Services (CMS) will bill the employee for the same amount that was being deducted from their check for the approved 12-week period.