The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that guarantees employees time off during certain, specifically defined situations. The act works hand and hand with state workers compensation laws. This law only applies to employers with 50 or more employees. Generally speaking, this law requires covered employers to allow employees to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year, in the following instances:
- The birth or adoption of a child
- To care for or attend to the serious health condition of an immediate family member
- To care for the employee’s own serious health condition
As defined by FMLA, a serious health condition is defined as an injury, impairment, illness, physical condition or mental condition that involves admittance to a hospital, hospice or residential medical care facility at which the person must stay overnight. In addition, it states that any treatment in connection with inpatient care or continuing care provided by a health care provider that includes one or more of the following:
- More than three consecutive days of incapacity.
- Any period of incapacity due to pregnancy or for prenatal care.
- Any period of incapacity or treatment due to a chronic serious health condition.
- A period of incapacity that is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective.
- Any period of absence to receive multiple treatments by a health care provider, including conditions that are not currently incapacitating but would be if left untreated.
The law also requires the employer to, upon the employees return to work, reinstate the employee in the same position they held prior to the leave, or to a position equivalent to their previous one. Employees are not required to take all their leave at once, and in certain cases of family leave, the employee is entitled to take one day at a time off.
As of January, 2008, FMLA extended the amount of leave employers must allow for family members of injured military personnel to care for them if they were injured during combat. Employers must allow 26 weeks of leave in such circumstances. In addition, employers must allow 12 weeks of leave to an employee who is the spouse, parent, son, or daughter of a service member that is on active duty or who has a pending call or order that requires them to return to active duty.
