View HR Procedures Manual Sections

Weight: 7 pounds

<< Back to Human Resources Policies Procedures Manual

Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires all public agencies, including State, local and Federal employers, local education agencies (schools) and employers with at least 50 employees within a 75 mile radius to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for certain family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible if they have worked for at least one year and for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months.

FMLA became effective on August 5, 1993, for most employers.

The enactment of the FMLA was predicated on two fundamental concerns -- the needs of the US workforce and the development of high-performance organizations. Increasingly, American children and growing numbers of the elderly are dependent on working family members who spend long hours on the job. When family emergencies arise, requiring employees to attend to their seriously-ill children or parents, or to newly-born or adopted infants, or even to their own serious illness, workers need assurances that they will not have to choose between their job security and meeting their personal and family obligations or tending to vital needs at home.

FMLA ISSUES

Guarantees workers up to 12 weeks a year off, unpaid, for births, adoptions or the care of sick children, spouses or parents.
Affects businesses with 50 or more workers within 75 miles.
Covers employees on the job at least one year.
Allows an employer to exclude the top-paid 10% of their employees.
Allows companies to restrict couples employed at the same place to 12 weeks total leave a year.
Requires workers to provide employers with 30 days notice when practical, such as for birth or adoption.
Requires employers to continue to provide health insurance during a worker's leave.
Guarantees workers the same or equivalent job upon their return.