Family and Medical Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act guaranteeing employees unpaid time off for family or
medical reasons was passed in 1993. The College grants up to 12 weeks (or up to 26 weeks of
military caregiver leave to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness)
during a 12-month period to eligible employees.
Eligibility. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have worked for the College for
12 months or 52 weeks, and the employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-
month period immediately before the date when the leave is requested to commence.
Type of Leave Covered. To qualify as FMLA leave under this policy, the employee must be
taking leave for one of the reasons listed below:

• The birth of a child and in order to care for that child.
• The placement of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for a newly placed child.
• To care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition (Under the FMLA, a
“spouse” means a husband or wife as defined under the law in the state where the
employee resides, including same-sex marriages in states that legally recognize such civil
unions).
• The serious health condition of the employee.

Procedure for Requesting FMLA Leave. All employees requesting FMLA leave must provide
Human Resources with verbal or written notice of the need for the leave. When the need for the
leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide the employer with at least 30 days’ notice. When
an employee becomes aware of a need for FMLA leave less than 30 days in advance, the
employee must provide notice of the need for the leave either the same day or the next business
day. Within five business days after the employee has provided this notice, Human Resources
will provide the employee with the DOL Notice of Eligibility and Rights.
Amount of Leave. An eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks for the FMLA circumstances
above during a 12-month period. The College will measure the 12-month period as a rolling 12-
month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any leave under this policy.
See example below.

Any absences related to your FMLA leave should be coded as FMLA on your time card.
Intermittent Leave or a Reduced Work Schedule. The employee may take FMLA leave in 12
consecutive weeks or may use the leave intermittently (take a day periodically when needed over
the year). In all cases, the leave may not exceed a total of 12 workweeks over the 12-month
period.

Use of Paid and Unpaid Leave. FMLA leave may be paid, unpaid or a combination of paid and
unpaid leave. All paid vacation, personal and sick leave run concurrently with FMLA leave.

NOTE: If an employee exhausted all allowable FMLA leave and paid vacation, personal and
sick leave, additional leave cannot be extended. Additional absences would be allowed when
additional paid vacation, personal or sick leave accrued or the new FMLA rolling year started.

EXAMPLE: If an employee requested and was approved for FMLA on 9/13/2017 for a
pregnancy and the first absence related to the approved FMLA leave is an OB appointment on
11/15/2017, the rolling year for this employee would start on 11/15/2017 and the employee
would be allowed to take 12 total weeks of leave within the year 11/15/2017-11/15/2018. This
would include leave for the pregnancy, caring for the baby, and any other FMLA covered event
that occurred in the rolling year. The employee had 10 days of vacation and 25 days of sick
leave. The employee used 8 days of sick leave (FMLA days) between 11/15/2017 and the birth
date of the baby, April 10, 2018 for OB appointments then stayed home caring for the baby for 8
weeks and returned to work on June 5, 2018. The employee would have used all 25 sick days and
10 vacation days leaving no more paid leave time. The remaining 13 days of leave were unpaid,
but allowed under FMLA. When the employee returns on June 5, 2018, 12 days or 96 hours of
FMLA are available to be used between June 5th and November 15th, note this is FMLA hours,
not vacation or sick time, and these hours of absence could only be used due to an approved
covered FMLA leave. If the remaining 12 days are used due to an approved covered FMLA
leave before November 15th, the employee would not be allowed any additional absences unless
he/she had accrued sick or vacation time.

Employee Status and Benefits During Leave. While an employee is on leave, the College will
continue the employee’s health benefits during the leave period at the same level and under the
same conditions as if the employee had continued to work. The employee must make
arrangements with HR to pay the employee portion of benefit premiums while on leave if the
leave or any portion of the leave is unpaid.

Intent to Return to Work from FMLA Leave. The College requires an employee on FMLA leave
to report periodically on the employee’s status and intent to return to work.

LINE OF AUTHORITY
Responsible administrator or office: Human Resources
Contact person in that office: Amy Ames
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 16, 2023
Approved by President: August 16, 2023