Title: Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Absences and Leave
Approved by:
Date Approved:
Effective Date: 01/01/2014
Responsible Official: Vice President of Human Resources
Responsible University Office: HR Employee Relations
Revision History:
Related Legislation and University Policies: Family and Medical Leave Act 1993; Workers' Compensation; Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Absences and Leave Procedure; Sick Pay; Paid Parental Leave, Including Adoption and Foster Care; Faculty Handbook; Additional Medical Leaves of Absences (Non-FMLA) Policy
Review Period: 5 years
Date of Last Review:
Relates to: All full-time and part-time faculty, executive staff, senior staff, and staff
Exclusions: student employees and temporary employees
FMLA Leave
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires CWRU to provide up to twelve (12) work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to “eligible” employees for certain family and personal medical reasons. To be “eligible” for FMLA leave, an employee must meet the following minimum requirements: be employed by CWRU at least twelve (12) months prior to the commencement of the leave and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve (12) month period prior to the leave. The general FMLA provisions are posted in the Human Resources, Crawford Hall Room 320.
The university recognizes that employees need to tend to both personal medical and family medical concerns in a constructive manner in order to be fully productive. Therefore, the university provides a measure of stability through benefit protection and a reasonable allowance for paid and unpaid time off of work. The amount of paid sick time that an employee is eligible to receive does not constitute the amount of leave time an employee is granted.
An employee may draw upon the twelve (12) week allowance either intermittently or in total over a twelve (12) month period based on eligibility date. “Eligibility date” refers to the date of the employee’s first FMLA leave within the previous twelve (12) months. For example
- If an employee has taken eight (8) weeks of leave during the past twelve (12) months, an additional four (4) weeks of leave may be taken.
- If an employee has used four (4) weeks beginning February 1, four (4) weeks beginning June 1, and four (4) weeks beginning December 1, the employee would not be entitled to any additional FMLA leave until after February 1, of the following year.
Under the university’s leave policy, “family” includes the employee’s spouse as recognized in the state of Ohio, son, daughter, parent or guardian, and domestic partner who has met the requirements for receipt of domestic partner benefits under CWRU’s policy.
Personal Medical, Family Medical, and Parenting Reasons
This policy applies to leaves for: (1) parenting, (refers to care and nurturing for a new child as a result of childbirth, adoption, or foster custody, unrelated to a medical condition), (2) serious health condition of a family member, or (3) serious health condition of the employee (including: Workers’ Compensation or a serious health condition related to pregnancy and/or childbirth). This policy will also apply to intermittent leave requests (such as pre-scheduled time off for medical appointments) or reduced leave schedule, when medically necessary. Intermittent leave or a reduced leave schedule for placement, adoption, or foster care of a child must be approved by the supervisor in consultation with Employee Relations. Intermittent leave for the birth and care of a child (except for pregnancy-related leave that would be leave for a serious health condition) also must be approved by the supervisor in consultation with Employee Relations. Intermittent leave for parenting must be completed within twelve (12) months of the date of birth or placement of a child. Employees, who require intermittent leave or a reduced leave schedule, must try to schedule their leaves so that they will not disrupt the department’s operations.
The annual maximum leave time for FMLA leave for a serious medical condition of the employee is twelve (12) weeks within a twelve (12) month period. However, the maximum allowed time may be affected by other leaves taken within the same twelve (12) month period. If a staff employee is unable to return to work for any period of time after twelve (12) weeks from the “eligibility date”, employment with the university ends as a voluntary termination, unless the employee has requested and is granted additional leave time for a documented disability (via the disability accommodation process coordinated by the Office of Equity, is granted an additional medical leave of absence (non-FMLA) leave, or qualifies for long-term disability. If the employee wishes to return to the university after twelve (12) weeks, they must reapply for a position with the university to be rehired with the university.
When the employee requests a leave for parenting or family medical reasons, the annual maximum leave time will be twelve (12) weeks within a twelve (12) month period. However, the maximum allowed time may be affected by other leaves taken within the same twelve (12) month period. Parenting leaves must be completed within twelve (12) months of the date of birth or placement of a child.
If two employees are seeking leave for the birth and care of the same newborn child, foster care placement or adoption, (i.e., a husband and wife or domestic partners who are both employees), the employee and their spouse (as recognized by the state of Ohio) or domestic partner (who has met the requirements for receipt of domestic partner benefits at CWRU) are limited to a total of twelve (12) weeks combined for the birth and care of the same newborn child, foster care placement, or adoption of a child. For other qualifying reasons under FMLA, each eligible spouse or domestic partner is entitled to twelve (12) weeks.
Family Military Service Member Reasons
This policy applies to leaves for (1) family members of military service members due to any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the spouse, child, or parent of the employee is on covered active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the National Guard and Reserves and the Regular Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation, or (2) family members (spouse, child, parent, or next of kin - meaning nearest blood relative) of military service members when caring for a service member’s serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty. Covered active duty requires deployment to a foreign country.
When the employee requests a military service member family leave for qualifying exigencies for a spouse, child, or parent, the annual maximum leave time is for a combined total of twelve (12) weeks based on other leaves taken during the previous twelve (12) month period.
When the employee requests a military service member family leave to care for a service member’s serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on covered active duty, the maximum leave time is a combined total of twenty-six (26) work weeks of leave based on other leaves taken during a single twelve (12) month period. This means that if an employee also has some other FMLA-qualifying event in that twelve (12) month period, his or her total amount of FMLA leave during that twelve (12) month period is still limited to twenty-six (26) weeks. This also means that even if the service member’s recovery lasts longer than the initial twelve (12) months, the twenty-six (26) weeks of service member family leave cannot be renewed, and the employee would not be eligible for an additional twenty-six (26) weeks of service member family leave in the following twelve (12) month period. The request for a service member family leave to care for the service member may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule.
For military service members seeking FMLA leave, the protections afforded by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) extend to all military members (active duty and reserve), and all periods of absence from work due to or necessitated by USERRA-covered service is counted in determining an employee’s eligibility for FMLA leave.
Paid Leaves and Unpaid Leaves
The allowance for paid time during the personal medical or family medical (including family military service member leave) leave is defined by the Sick Pay Policy. Employees on personal medical leave must use all unused sick days and all unused vacation days prior to commencing an unpaid personal medical leave. Employees may use up to twelve (12) sick days annually (minus any sick days they may have taken for bereavement, parenting for foster care, or family illness not covered by FMLA leave) for family medical or family military service member leave.
Executive Staff, Senior Staff, and Staff should refer to the Paid Parental Leave Policy for paid time allowances for parenting leaves for childbirth and/or adoption. Faculty should refer to the Paid Parental Leave Policy in the Faculty Handbook.
Employees must use all unused vacation days prior to commencing an unpaid family medical, parenting, or family military service member leave. However, employees may not be required to use sick days or vacation days during periods of Workers’ Compensation leave.
Staff who are on a personal medical leave for more than fourteen (14) consecutive calendar days should apply for short-term disability benefits. All employees (faculty, executive staff, senior staff, and staff) who are out on a personal medical leave for more than twenty-six (26) weeks may be eligible for long-term disability benefits. Staff must first be receiving short-term disability benefits in order for the insurance carrier to consider them for long-term disability benefits. The effectiveness of this leave policy depends on the employee's appropriate use of leave time.
Employees on paid leave will remain in their Benelect program according to Benelect plan provisions and will continue to accrue service time toward benefits based on active service.
Employees on an unpaid leave for personal medical, family medical (including service member family leave for qualifying exigency), or parenting reasons must have used all unused sick and vacation day allowances; they will remain in the Benelect program for 12 weeks according to Benelect plan provisions, and will not accrue service time except toward their retirement plan vesting. Employees on an unpaid family military service member leave for serious illness or injury of a service member incurred in the line of covered active duty while on active duty must have used all unused sick and vacation day allowances; they will remain in the Benelect program for twenty-six (26) weeks according to Benelect plan provisions, and will not accrue service time except toward their retirement plan vesting. When the employee returns from unpaid leave, an adjustment will be made to their paycheck for Benelect employee contributions payments made on their behalf.
Notification of Leave
The employee ordinarily must provide thirty (30) days’ advance notice when the leave is “foreseeable.” If the leave is not foreseeable, notice must be given as soon as practicable. Medical certification of the need for the leave and fitness for duty certification following the leave provided by the employee’s (or family member’s) health care provider is required for (1) personal medical, family medical (including injury or serious illness of military service family members incurred in the line of duty while on covered active duty), or parenting leave requests of more than 5 consecutive working days for the same serious health condition, and (2) all intermittent leave requests of any duration. For military exigencies of a service member, documentation from the United States government for the family member, with the details of the call to active duty, is required. Any healthcare provider authorized to complete a medical certification for other types of FMLA leave may provide medical certification for military caregiver leave.
Reinstatement - Personal Medical, Family Medical, and Parenting Reasons
The university will hold the FMLA-eligible employee’s position, or an equivalent position, for twelve (12) weeks during any personal medical, family medical, or parenting leave during a twelve (12) month period. If the twelve (12) weeks have not been exceeded when the employee returns from leave, the university will return the employee to the same position or an equivalent position. Highly compensated employees, the top 10%, may not be able to return to the same or similar position.
The supervisor is responsible for determining how to continue quality operations while the employee's position, or equivalent position, is being held for twelve (12) weeks. If a leave exceeds twelve (12) weeks, Human Resources will attempt to assist the employee in finding a comparable position. However, Human Resources cannot guarantee that the employee will be placed in any position at CWRU after twelve (12) weeks. If an employee does not return to work and the employee is not granted additional medical leave of absence (non-FMLA) leave or additional leave for a documented disability (via the disability accommodation process coordinated by the Office of Equity, or is not on the inactive status period, (see below), employment ends as a voluntary termination effective the last day of the approved leave. An employee is not entitled to reinstatement to their position while in the inactive status period (see below).
Reinstatement - Family Military Service Member Reasons
The university will hold the position, or an equivalent position, of the eligible employee for military service member family leave for a qualifying exigency for a combined total of twelve (12) weeks during a twelve (12) month period. The university will hold the position, or an equivalent position, of the eligible employee for military service member family leave to care for a service member’s serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty for a combined total of twenty-six (26) weeks during any twelve (12) month period. This means that if an employee also has some other FMLA-qualifying event in that twelve (12) month period, the maximum period which the employee’s position is held during that twelve (12) month period is still limited to twenty-six (26) weeks. This also means that even if the service member’s recovery lasts longer than the initial twelve (12) months, the twenty-six (26) weeks of service member family leave cannot be renewed, and the employee would not be eligible for an additional twenty-six (26) weeks of job protection in the following twelve (12) month period.
The supervisor is responsible for determining how to continue quality operations while the employee's position, or equivalent position, is being held for twelve (12) or twenty-six (26) weeks if applicable. If a leave exceeds twelve (12) (or twenty-six (26)) weeks and if the supervisor has proceeded with a replacement, Human Resources will attempt to assist the employee in finding a comparable position. However, Human Resources cannot guarantee that the employee will be placed in any position at CWRU after twelve (12) (or twenty-six (26)) weeks. If an employee does not return to work and the employee is not granted any additional leave via the disability accommodation process coordinated by the Office of Equity or through additional medical leave of absence (non-FMLA) leave, or is not on the inactive status period, (see below), employment ends as a voluntary termination effective the last day of the approved leave.
Inactive Status Period
If an employee is on an approved paid or unpaid personal medical leave more than twelve (12) weeks (or twenty-six (26) weeks for a military service member family leave), the employee is considered on inactive status. The inactive status period is a period in which an employee is not entitled to reinstatement to his/her position but during which approved personal medical leave may continue for up to twenty-six (26) weeks so that an employee who is eligible may apply for long-term disability benefits at twenty-six (26) weeks. The employee will remain on the inactive status period as long as the personal medical leave is approved. The inactive status period ends and employment ends when the employee who has been out more than twelve (12) weeks (or twenty-six (26) weeks for a military service member family leave) is 1) no longer on an approved personal medical leave or 2) becomes eligible to receive long-term disability benefits.