Wednesday, September 8, 2010

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Amount of Leave


The FMLA allows an employee to take up to 12 weeks off per year.

Can I require my employee to take all leave at one time?

No. If the illness requires occasional rather than constant care, the employee may try to arrange a schedule with you that gives the employee the needed time off, so long as it does not hurt the company’s business. For example, if the employee’s mother does not need constant care but needs the employee to go with her once a month for her planned treatments, the employee can take time off from work intermittently to bring the mother to treatment.

Wages while on leave

Generally, employees have no right to be paid while on leave. However, they can get paid during their FMLA leave if they have sick time or vacation time available. You don’t have to allow your employees use vacation or sick time for leaves, but you may require the employees to use it all up while on leave (unless an employee takes leave for pregnancy or childbirth).

Health benefits while on leave

If your employees receive health benefits in their jobs (including dental or vision care benefits), you must continue paying for these benefits while they are on FMLA leave.

If the employee does not return to work after the leave – or if the employee comes back to work for less than thirty days after the leave – you can probably require the employee to pay for the costs of the medical insurance premiums you paid for the employee while on leave (unless the employee couldn’t come back for reasons beyond his or her control, such as illness).

Rights of employees returning from leave

An employee who comes back from leave has the right to return to the same or similar job- a job with equivalent salary, benefits, and working conditions, such as shift schedule or commute. The duties of the “similar job” probably do not have to be identical to the duties of the previous job, however.

You do not have to give you the employee’s job back if the old position was eliminated while he or she was on leave. If you have merely moved someone into the job while the employee was away, the job was not “eliminated” and you must return the employee to that job after the leave.