Family Medical Leave (FMLA): Employee Rights and Eligibility

The Family Medical Leave Act, (FMLA) allows “covered employees” to take time away from work to handle family or medical needs. Many states, however, have provided additional rights and benefits beyond the scope of federal legislation.

This article mainly covers some of the main topic points of the FMLA rules and covers its basic compliance requirements.

Covered Employees Must Comply With FMLA Rules

Employee must give employer sufficient notice of leave

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, you must give your employer notice that you need to take a leave of absence, usually at least 30 days in advance. You must give notice, and you might have to provide evidence of need if you take a leave of absence. If that’s not possible, provide the information as soon as possible.

Consequences for lack of notice to the employer

If you fail to give sufficient notice, your employer may delay your leave. However, your leave cannot be taken away from you entirely. If you suddenly need to take a leave of absence in an emergency, you should give your employer notice as soon as possible.

Must Provide Employer With Medical Proof

Your employer may ask for evidence – such as a doctor’s note – that you or a family member is sick. You must only provide this information if your employer requests it in writing.

The law of your state might give you the right not to disclose your illness to your employer. In that case, you or your doctor must tell the employer that you or your family member has a “serious health condition.”

You may contact a lawyer specializing in employment or labor law to determine whether you must reveal your condition to your employer before taking medical leave.

Employer’s right to obtain a second opinion

Your employer also can require you to get a second opinion, and your employer can choose the doctor who furnishes that opinion. Your employer must pay for that visit to the second doctor. If the second doctor finds you do not have a severe health condition, you can see a third doctor.

You and your employer must agree on who the third doctor will be, and your employer is required to pay the third doctor. The third doctor’s opinion is binding and will determine whether you can take the leave.

Amount of Leave Time

Twelve workweeks of leave in 12 months 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 their 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 work weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin military caregiver leave.

Employers must provide eligible employees with family or medical leave

Not every employer must provide employees with family or medical leave.

Federal law requires employers to provide eligible employees with leave if the employer is a state, local, or federal governmental agency or a private business engaged in or affecting interstate commerce that employs fifty or more employees with twenty or more weeks in the current or prior calendar year.

Qualifying Companies Must Include Every Employee on Their Payroll

The “fifty or more employees” standard includes everyone on the employer’s payroll, including part-time employees, employees on approved leave, and leased or temporary employees.

Employees must qualify as covered employees

Under the FMLA, employees are eligible for leave if working for the employer for at least twelve months, including at least 1,250 hours during the twelve months immediately preceding the need for rest.

Employees must also work at sites in the United States or a U.S. territory where the employer has at least fifty employees within seventy-five miles.

What qualifies as a serious health condition

A serious health condition is considered an illness, injury, impairment, or condition that involves hospital care; absence from work plus continuing treatment; pregnancy; treatment for a chronic condition; permanent long-term supervision; or multiple treatments.

You may retain your group health insurance while on leave

If you receive health benefits in your job (including dental or vision care benefits), your employer must continue paying for these benefits while you are on FMLA leave.

If you do not return to work after your leave – or if you come back to work for less than thirty days after your leave – depending on your state, your employer may require you to pay for the costs of the medical insurance premiums they paid for you while you were on leave unless you couldn’t come back for reasons beyond your control, such as illness.

No requirement to take all your leave at one time

No. Under the Family Leave Act, if the illness requires occasional rather than constant care, you may arrange a schedule with your employer that gives you the time off you need but does not hurt the company’s business.

For example, if your mother does not require constant care but needs you to go with her once a month for her planned treatments, you can intermittently take time off from work to bring your mother to treatment.

You still get paid while on leave

Generally, you have no right to be paid while on leave in labor laws and FMLA. However, you can get paid during your FMLA leave if you have sick time or vacation time available. Your employer doesn’t have to let you use vacation or sick time, but he can require you to use it all while on leave (unless you leave for pregnancy or childbirth).

Returning From Leave Under FMLA

When you return back to your employer, under the law, the employer is obligated to provide you with the same or similar job you had before you left – a job with an equivalent salary, benefits, and working conditions, such as shift schedule or commute.

However, the duties of the “similar job” probably do not have to be identical to those of the previous job.

Your employer does not have to give you your job back if your old position was eliminated. However, if the employer has merely moved another person into your previous job when you return, you have the right to return to that job.

Upon returning from leave, the FMLA mandates that you be entitled to be restored to your former or equivalent job with equivalent pay and benefits. Taking a break may not result in losing any benefit you were entitled to before taking leave.

Locate An Employment -Labor Attorney

Should you have specific questions or require additional information about your legal rights and obligations, we strongly advise you to consult with a verified online Employment or Labor Lawyer about your issues as soon as possible.

(Reference Source: Family and Medical Leave Act | U.S. Department of Labor – DOL.)