Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year, and requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if the employees continued work instead of taking leave. HR managers often name FMLA issues as their top headache. These resources can help you manage leave under FMLA.
What employers are subject to FMLA?
FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius. The law also applies to public employers (governmental and school entities) regardless of size.
What employees are eligible for FMLA?
To be eligible for FMLA, an employee must:
- Have worked for the employer for at least 12 months
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer within the last 12 months
- Have a qualifying reason for leave
What are the qualifying reasons that entitle an employee to FMLA?
- Birth, care for a newborn, adoption, or placement of a child for foster care
- To care for an immediate family member who has a serious health condition
- The employee's own serious health condition
- Qualifying exigencies arising out of an immediate family member that is on or has been called to active military duty
- To care for a family member with a serious illness or injury that was incurred during active military duty (permitted to take up to 26 weeks of leave)
Regulations
This DOL site presents the FMLA regulations in an easy to digest format and answers questions such as:
View the entire set of FMLA regulations.
Model Notices and Forms
The DOL has provided six model notices to assist employers with FMLA compliance.
Maternity Leave Survey
This Fact Sheet from the Institute for Women's Policy Research presents findings from their survey of U.S. employers' family leave policies, including the percentage of private sector employers providing maternity, paternity, or adoption leave and whether the leave is paid or unpaid.
View survey
FAQs
On November 17, 2008, the DOL issued final regulations regarding FMLA with changes effective January 16, 2009. What did the final regulations change?
An overview of those changes is below:
- Leaves related to active military duty of a family member was added to the qualifying reasons entitling an employee to FMLA.
- The previous definition of serious health condition included an absence of three consecutive days and two visits to a healthcare provider. The new regulation clarifies that the two visits must occur within 30 days of the period of incapacity with the first visit occurring within seven days of the incapacity.
- An employer's HR professional, leave administrator, or management official may contact an employee's health care provider to clarify or authenticate the provider’s certification. An employee's direct supervisor may not contact the provider.
- An employer must notify the employee of his/her eligibility and rights under FMLA within five days of the employee's request.
What are the notification deadlines under FMLA?
Both the employee and employer notification deadlines are listed below:
- An employee must notify the employer of the need for leave 30 days prior to the leave or the same day (or day after) the employee knows of the need for leave, whichever is earlier.
- Within 5 days of the employee's request for leave, the employer should have notified the employee of his/her eligibility as well as his/her Rights and Responsibilities. (Form WH-381)
- If the employer requires certification, the employee has at least 15 days to submit the certification. (Form WH-380-E, WH-380-F, WH-384, or WH-385)
- Within 5 days of receiving the required information from the employee (including certification), the employer must notify the employee of whether the leave qualifies under FMLA and will be designated as such. (Form WH-382)
Additional Resources
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