The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) guarantees important rights to private and public sector employees. You are eligible for FMLA leave if you:
- Work for an employee that has 50 or more employees
- Have been employed for at least 12 months
- Have worked 1250 or more hours in the previous 12 months, and
- Work where at least 50 employees are employed within 75 miles.
Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave over a 12 month period to:
- recover from a serious health condition (medical leave)
- care for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition (family-care leave)
- care for or bond with a newborn, adopted, or foster child (child-care leave)
You may take medical and family-care leave on an intermittent basis. If you work five days per week, you may take up to 60 individual days. You can also take FMLA leave on a reduced schedule basis. For example, you may work part time after an operation.
Other features of FMLA include:
- Leave may not be delayed of denied because your employer is in a busy period.
- You may be asked to submit a medical certification from a health care provider.
- If your need for leave is foreseeable, you must provide advance notice of 30 days when possible.
- After your leave, you must be returned to the same or a substantially equivalent position.
- Your employer may not take adverse measures against you because of FMLA absences.
FMLA violations should be reported to your union representative. Feel free to contact us if you have questions or concerns about how to use this benefit.
Links:
- U.S. Department of Labor (Wage and Hour Division). Page details the exact policy and news regarding recent policy changes. (http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/index.htm)
- AFSCME International’s Fact sheet for FMLA Leave. (http://www.afscme.org/issues/1764.cfm)
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