Policies + Procedures — Governance + Compliance — Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

1.12 Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

I. Purpose

It is the policy of the college to provide eligible employees with leaves of absence from work in accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

II. Scope

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of the college to take unpaid, jobprotected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.

III. General

To be eligible for a family and medical leave an employee must have been employed by the college for at least one year, and must have worked 1,250 hours in the 12-month period preceding the effective date of the requested leave.

Eligible employees are entitled to twelve work weeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
To care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job, including incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care or childbirth and serious health conditions arising from a work-related injury or illness;
A qualifying exigency arising from the circumstances that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty” or has been notified of an impending order to active duty in a foreign country; or
Twenty-six work weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered military service member with a serious injury or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty while on active duty, provided the covered service member is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin to the employee (military caregiver leave).

In some circumstances, Family and Medical Leave may be taken on an intermittent basis.

IV. Procedures

Request for Family and Medical Leave

Whenever possible, an employee should provide the college with thirty (30) days’ notice of the need for a Family and Medical Leave. The employee should contact the Human Resources Department to discuss the leave application procedure, the college’s policy on FMLA and the benefits and costs associated with FMLA.

Paid Leave While on Family and Medical Leave

College employees may be eligible for paid leave benefits. Although the Family and Medical Leave Act does not provide paid leave, it does permit the college to require employees with leave to use some or all available paid leave while on Family and Medical Leave. Employees should contact the Human Resources Department for information about use of paid leave during Family and Medical leave.

To the extent a serious health condition is also a disability under the college’s disability program, an employee with a serious health condition may be entitled to income replacement under the disability program. Employees on Family and Medical Leave due to a work-related illness or injury may receive replacement income under the college’s workers’ compensation program.

The college will establish and maintain procedures and administrative guidelines pursuant to the policy. The policy, administrative procedures, and the guidelines are intended to comply with the requirements of the FMLA. To the extent that they fail to comply with the FMLA, the provisions of the FMLA shall prevail.