Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/60893
ADVOCACY CORNER Laws Educators Should Know: Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by Samantha Blevins What is it? The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. The FMLA also allows eligible employees to take up to 26 workweeks of job-protected leave in a "single 12-month period" to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness. Why should employees take FMLA leave? 1. FMLA leave is protected leave, so after taking FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to the employee's original job, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment; 2. An employee's use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to before using FMLA leave; 3. An employee's use of FMLA leave cannot be counted against the employee under a "no fault" attendance policy; 4. Also, it is unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right provided by the FMLA. Can an employer discipline an employee who takes FMLA leave? An employer cannot discipline or otherwise retaliate against an employee for taking FMLA leave. However, an employer can discipline an employee for misconduct that would have resulted in discipline had the employee not taken FMLA. Who does the FMLA cover? FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more 24 Summer 2012 ❘ AEA Advocate employees. Who is an eligible employee? Employees are eligible for leave if • They have worked for their employer at least 12 months over the past 7 years, • They have worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and • They work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. How do employees prove they worked 1250 hours? Employers are required to keep records of time worked. However, full-time teachers, who have worked as a teacher during the previous 12 months, are presumed to have worked 1250 hours, so if a district wants to claim that the teachers are not eligible for FMLA leave, the district bears the burden of proving that teachers did not work 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months. When can eligible employees take leave? FMLA covered employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons: • For the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee; • For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care; • To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; • To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition, including pregnancy related complications; or • For qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, son, Continued on page 38