Family and Medical Leaves – A Refresher

On July 1, new regulations under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) go into effect to align more closely with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). I thought this might be a good time to do a little refresher on FMLA, especially for those of you who have employees outside of California. I discussed the changes to the CFRA in a previous blog. Note that there are still some differences between CFRA and FMLA, so be sure you are familiar with both.

The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees of “covered employers” to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons. FMLA “covered employers” refers to private sector employers with 50 or more employees; public agencies regardless of the number of employees; and public or private elementary or secondary schools, regardless of number of employees.

To be eligible for a leave under FMLA, an employee must have worked for the covered employer for at least 12 months and must have completed at least 1250 hours of service for the employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave.

Eligible employees may take a leave under FMLA for one or more of the following:

• The birth or adoption of a child
• To care for an immediate family member who has a serious health condition
• For a serious personal health condition that prevents the employee from performing the essential functions of his or her job
• For a qualifying event when a spouse, son, daughter or parent is a military member on covered active duty

Additionally, an eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin of a service member with a serious injury or illness may take up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for that covered service member.

FMLA requires that covered employers:

• Post a notice explaining rights and responsibilities under FMLA
• Include FMLA information in the employee handbook or provide information to new hires
• Provide requesting employees with a notice of eligibility, rights and responsibilities under FMLA
• Notify employees who take an FMLA leave of the amount time that will be deducted from their FMLA entitlement

On return from an FMLA leave, the employee must be restored to his or her original job or an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment. Using the leave cannot be counted against the employee’s attendance. Also, employers are required to continue group health coverage for employees on FMLA. Find more information about FMLA here.

Be sure you have updated your employee handbook to reflect the new CFRA regulations and that you are routinely providing employees with the required notices. If you need assistance with updating your handbook, please contact me.