Home << Human Resources << FMLA/LOA
Leave of Absence
Any employee needing an extended Leave of Absence must make a request
in writing for a Superintendent approved Leave of Absence through the personnel
department. Leaves of Absence may be approved for varying lengths of time, depending
upon the nature of the leave requested. Some types of Leave are protected by the
Family and Medical Leave Act described below. For all other Leaves, the Board’s
contribution toward all fringe benefits will cease on the date the Leave begins.
The employee on Leave must make arrangements to pay the full cost of all Medical,
Dental and Life Insurance Benefits.
Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid,
job-protected leave a year, and requires group heath benefits to be maintained during
the leave as if the employee continued to work instead of taking leave.
FMLA allows
employees to balance their work and family life by taking reasonable unpaid leave
for certain family and medical reasons. The law seeks to accomplish these purposes
in a manner that accommodates the legitimate interests of employers, and minimizes
the potential for employment discrimination on the basis of gender, while promoting
equal employment opportunity for men and women.
Eligibility
To be eligible for FMLA
Leave, an employee must work for a covered employer for at least 12 months; and
have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 month period beginning July 1st and
ending June 30th prior to the start of the FMLA leave.
Leave Entitlement
A covered
employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid
leave in a 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons:
- For the birth of a child and to care for a newborn
child;
- For the placement of a child for adoption or foster
care, and to care for the newly placed child;
- To care for an immediate
family member with a serious health condition; When the employee is unable to work
because of a serious health condition.
Leave for a newborn child or for a newly
placed child must conclude within 12 months after the birth or placement.
Spouses
employed by the same employer may be limited to a combined total of 12 workweeks
of family leave for the following reasons:
- Birth and care of a child;
- For the placement
of a child for adoption or foster care, and to care for a newly placed child: and
-
To care for an employee’s parent who has a serious health condition.
Intermittent
or Reduced Schedule Leave
The FMLA permits employees to take leave on an intermittent
basis or to work a reduced schedule under certain circumstances.
- Intermittent or
reduced schedule leave may be taken when medically necessary to care for a seriously
ill family member, or because of the employee’s serious medical condition.
- Intermittent
or reduced schedule leave may be taken to care for a newborn or newly placed or
foster care child only with the employer’s approval.
Only the amount of leave actually
taken while on intermittent or reduced schedule leave may be charged as FMLA leave.
Employees may not be required to take more FMLA leave than necessary to address
the circumstances that caused the need for leave.
Employees needing intermittent
or reduced schedule leave for foreseeable medical treatment must work with their
employer to schedule leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations,
subject to the employee’s healthcare provider. In such cases, the employer may transfer
the employee temporarily to another job of equal pay and benefits that accommodates
recurring periods of leave.
Substitution of Paid Leave
Employees may choose to use,
or employers may require the employee to use accrued paid leave to cover some or
all of the FMLA leave taken. Employees may choose or be required to take accrued
paid vacation or personal leave for any of these situations covered by FMLA.
Medical
Certification
An employer may require that the need for leave be supported by a
certification issued by a healthcare provider. The employer must allow an employee
at least 15 calendar days to obtain medical certification. An employer may, at it’s
own expense, require an employee to obtain a second medical certification from a
healthcare provider of it’s own choice.
Maintenance of Health Benefits
A covered
employer is required to maintain group health insurance coverage, including family
coverage, for an employee on FMLA leave on the same terms as if the employee continued
to work. Employees are required to pay their share of health insurance premiums,
co-payments and deductibles while on unpaid leave. The employer’s obligation stops
if and when an employee informs the employer of an intent not to return to work
at the end of the leave period, or if the employee fails to return to work at the
end of the FMLA leave period. The employer’s obligation also stops if the employee’s
health insurance premium payment is more than 30 days late and the employer has
given the employee written notice at least 15 days in advance advising that the
coverage will cease if payment is not received.
Other Benefits
Other benefits need
not be maintained during periods of unpaid FMLA leave. Certain types of benefits
such as seniority or paid leave, need not continue to accrue during periods of unpaid
FMLA leave. An employer may elect to continue such benefits to ensure that the employee
will be eligible to be restored to the same benefits upon return to work. At the
conclusion of the leave, the employer may recover the employee’s share of premiums
it paid to maintain non-health benefits during unpaid FMLA leave.
Job Restoration
Upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to his or her original
job, or to an equivalent job in terms of pay, benefits and other employment terms
and conditions. In addition, an employee’s use of FMLA leave cannot result in the
loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to before
using FMLA leave.
Notice Requirements
Eligible employees seeking to use FMLA leave
may be required to provide:
- 30-day advance notice when the need is foreseeable;
-
notice as soon as practicable ( within one of two business days) when leave is not
foreseeable;
- sufficient information for the employer to understand that the employee
needs FMLA leave for a qualifying reason, and;
- where the employer was not notified
an employee was absent for FMLA leave reasons and the employee wants the leave counted
as FMLA leave, timely notice ( generally within two business days of returning to
work) that leave was taken for a qualifying FMLA reason.
Covered employers must
take the following steps to provide information to employees about FMLA:
- Post a
notice explaining employee rights and responsibilities under FMLA;
- Include information
about FMLA in employee handbooks or other written material;
- Provide information
about FMLA whenever requested by an employee;
- Provide written notice designating
the leave as FMLA leave and detailing specific expectations and obligations of the
employee exercising their FMLA entitlements.
This employer notice should be provided
within one or two business days after receiving the employee’s notice of need for
leave and include the following:
- That the leave will be counted against the employee’s
annual FMLA leave entitlement;
- Any requirements for the employee to furnish medical
certification and the consequences for failing to do so;
- The employee’s right to
elect accrued paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave and whether the employer will require
the use of paid leave, and the conditions related to using paid leave;
- Any requirement
for making premium payments for maintaining group health insurance and the arrangements
for making such payments;
- Any requirement to present a fitness for duty certification
before returning to duty;
- Rights to job restoration upon return from leave;
- Employee’s
potential liability for reimbursement of health insurance premiums paid by the employer
during leave if the employee fails to return.
Worker’s Compensation Leave
FMLA leave
and worker’s compensation leave can run together, provided the reason for the absence
is due to a qualifying serious illness or injury and the employer properly notifies
the employee in writing that the leave will be counted as FMLA leave.