Know Your Family and Medical Leave Rights
Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employer Rights, Medical and Sick Leave, News on January 30, 2014
What is the Family and Medical Leave Act?
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a private employer with at least 50 employees is required to give qualified employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for certain medical and family reasons, such as the adoption or birth of a child or to care for a serious health condition of the employee or an immediate family member. In order for an employee to be eligible for FMLA leave, he or she must have worked for the employer for at least one year and worked for at least 1250 hours during that year.
When Can an Employer Deny Leave?
There are certain situations, however, in which an employer may delay or deny such leave. For example, if the reason for the FMLA leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide the employer with at least 30 days notice prior to taking the leave. If the employee fails to do so, the employer may require the employee to delay his or her leave until the notice period has elapsed. However, if the reason for leave is not foreseeable, such as a sudden injury or illness, then the employee is only required to give the employer as much notice as is possible under the circumstances.
Employers also may deny or delay leave if the employee fails to provide timely medical certification of the need for leave, whether the leave is for the employee’s medical condition or to care for a spouse, parent or child. Employers have a right to require that employees provide medical certification to prove that requested time-off is for an FMLA approved-purpose.
What to Expect When Returning to Work After Leave
The FMLA also requires employers to reinstate employees to the same position or one with similar job duties after returning from FMLA leave. However, in some situations, employers may decline to reinstate an employee. If the employee meets the definition of a “key employee,” the employer does not have to reinstate him or her to the position. A key employee is an employee in a highly-paid, salaried position with the employer. Employers may refuse to rehire key employees if doing so would cause “substantial and grievous economic injury” to the business operations to do so.
Employers also do not have to reinstate employees to their position if the position was eliminated during his or her leave and the position would have been eliminated regardless of whether the employee took the leave. Likewise, if the employer notifies the employee at the time he or she begins a medically related leave that the employee will be required to provide certification of fitness for duty before he or she may return, the employer may refuse to reinstate the employee until he or she provides such certification. Finally, if the employee notifies the employer at some point during the leave that he or she does not intend to return, the employer’s obligation to reinstate the employee ends. This is the case even if the employee later changes his or her mind.
