FMLA

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Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Family Medical Leave, as required under the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, will be provided to eligible employees for up to 12 work weeks within a 12-month period for any of the following reasons:

  • The birth or care of a newborn child

  • The adoption or foster care placement of a child with the employee

  • The care of an immediate family member (child, spouse, or parent) with a serious health condition

  • The employee's own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of his or her job

An eligible employee is one who has worked for the employer for at least twelve (12) months and at least 1,250 hours during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the commencement of the leave. FMLA is calculated on a rolling twelve (12) month schedule. For more information regarding FMLA eligibility, click here.

A serious health condition entitling an employee to FMLA means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves:

  • Inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility;

  • Continuing treatment by a health care provider, which includes a chronic or long-term health care condition that is so serious that, if not treated, would likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three (3) calendar days;

  • Any period of absence to receive multiple treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, dialysis or physical therapy for arthritis.

Family Medical Leave is an unpaid leave of absence, although you may substitute paid leave based upon the employee's available accrued sick, vacation and grandfather vacation time.

If the leave is for the employee's own serious health condition, sick time must be used. Either sick or vacation time may be used to care for an eligible family member. Whichever type of paid leave you select initially must be exhausted before you are eligible to use a different type of paid leave. (Example: If you elect to substitute sick time for unpaid FMLA leave, you must exhaust all your sick time before you are eligible to substitute vacation time.) Accrual of sick and vacation time will continue while the employee remains in a paid status but will cease when the employee enters into an unpaid status.  If the employee elects to take the leave paid or unpaid, once this designation is selected, it cannot be changed after the leave has commenced.  If an employee has compensatory time accumulated and chooses to apply it during a leave, he/she must designate that compensatory (comp) time before going on a leave.

Married couples employed by MCCCD and eligible for Family Medical Leave will be limited to a combined total of twelve (12) weeks of leave during any twelve-month period for the birth or placement of a child, or the care of either employee's parent with a serious health condition. However, time off for care of a sick child will be computed separately.

Employees granted Family Medical Leave will return to the same position or a position equivalent to that held prior to the commencement of the leave. While on FMLA you may not perform any duties for MCCCD, and any additional service contracts will be canceled while on approved leave, this is to exclude FMLA intermittent. Prior to restoring the employee to full work duty, the employee must present to the Compensation Department a fit for duty certification when the absence was caused by the employee's own serious health condition.

Intermittent Leave is Family Medical Leave taken in separate blocks of time due to a single qualifying reason.

A Reduced Leave Schedule is a leave schedule that reduces an employee's usual number of hours per week or hours per workday.

Benefit Coverage during a leave:

If the employee is covered under a policy group, the District will continue to pay the flexible benefits for the insurance selected by the employee, as of the initial leave of absence date, for the duration of the FMLA period. The employee is responsible for any out of pocket costs during the FMLA period.  After the FMLA period has ended, the employee will be eligible to continue qualifying coverage through COBRA. The employee is responsible for the premium payment plus a 2% administration fee while continuing coverage through COBRA.

 

Guidelines for FMLA:

This is a general, information guideline, which can assist supervisors to appropriately manage the operation of his/her department while an employee is on FMLA.

If your employee reports a serious health condition of their own or an eligible family member as listed above, he/she may qualify for FMLA leave.

What To Do and What You're Employee Should Know:

  • Have your employee contact the LOA Hotline at 480 731-8448 to obtain the necessary paperwork for FMLA.

  • A supervisor may require an employee to comply with his/her department's usual and customary notice and procedural requirements for requesting leave.

  • Failure to follow such internal employer procedure will not permit MCCCD to disallow or delay an employee from taking FMLA leave if the employee gives timely verbal or notice within one to two business days notice.

  • In the case of intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule, an employee shall advise the supervisor, upon request, of the reasons why the intermittent/reduce leave schedule is necessary and of the schedule for treatment.

  • Once the employee is approved for FMLA intermittent leave, he/she must make a reasonable attempt to arrange the schedule of treatments so as to not unduly disrupt the employer's operations. The supervisor may initiate discussion with the employee and require the employee to attempt to make such arrangements.

  • A supervisor must require the employee to submit a fit for duty statement prior to the employee returning to work while on FMLA when the absence was caused by the employee's own serious health condition. FMLA intermittent does not require a fit for duty statement each time the employee is out on FMLA intermittent.

        Leave Of Absence Tracking Form - PDF format

        Leave of Absence Tracking Form - Word format

Last Modified: February 08, 2008

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