The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law enacted in 1993 that provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for specific family and medical reasons. This law aims to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical situations.
Key Provisions of FMLA
Eligibility Requirements: To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must:
- Work for an employer with 50 or more employees.
- Have been employed for at least 12 months (not necessarily consecutive).
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave request
Covered Reasons for Leave: Eligible employees can take FMLA leave for the following reasons:
- The birth and care of a newborn child.
- The placement of a child for adoption or foster care.
- To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition.
- To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work due to a serious health condition that impairs the employee from performing the functions of their job.
It is up to the employer to determine, in advance, whether this 12 month is period of time is based on a calendar year, an anniversary year, or a moving 12-month period of time.
Definitions: Under FMLA the definitions are the following:
- Under the reason of carrying for an immediate family member, a son or daughter includes a biological child, an adopted child, a foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in place of a parent who is (a) under 18 years of age or (b) 18 years of age or older but incapable of self-care due to a mental or physical disability.
- A parent is defined as a biological parent or someone who stood in place of a parent when the employee was a son or daughter. For example, this definition does not include a stepparent if that stepparent was not the employee's stepparent when the employee was under 18 years of age.
- A serious health condition is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a medical facility or continuing treatment by a "health care provider." Health care providers include doctors, osteopaths, and chiropractors. Any such absence from work must be over three days in duration and involve continuing treatment to qualify as a serious health condition, or be a chronic or permanent condition which, if untreated, would result in an absence of over three days.
Serious Health Condition
The regulations provide a broad definition of a “serious health condition.” A serious health condition always involves incapacity, which is defined as an employee’s inability to perform one or more essential functions of their job. The regulations identify categories of serious health conditions as follows:
- Hospitalizations involving inpatient care in a medical facility and any subsequent period of incapacity or treatment related to the condition.
- Conditions causing a period of incapacity which lasts more than three consecutive calendar days (not necessarily workdays) and requires at least two treatments by a health care provider or someone under the health care provider’s supervision (e.g., a nurse or physical therapist).
- Conditions causing a period of incapacity that lasts more than three consecutive calendar days and requires at least one treatment by a health care provider and results in a regimen of continuing treatment such as prescription medication, therapy, etc.
- Pregnancy.
- Chronic conditions involving recurrent episodes of incapacity and periodic treatments by a health care provider.
- Long-term incapacity, which is a condition causing permanent or long-term incapacity where the employee is under continuing supervision of a health care provider but is not being actively treated.
- Conditions that result in more than three days of incapacity if left untreated and which require time away from regular activities to receive and recover from treatment. Examples include chemotherapy treatment, severe arthritis resulting in physical therapy, and dialysis treatment.
The final regulations clarify that long-term or chronic conditions, hospital stays, pregnancy-related incapacity, and conditions which would be incapacitating if left untreated do not have to last three days. Therefore, a “serious health condition” includes illnesses of less than three days that are part of an ongoing serious health condition which is episodic or causing emergencies requiring only brief health care to prevent aggravation of the condition.
A serious health condition requires continuing treatment of either two visits to a health care provider or one visit followed by a regimen of continuing treatment. A regimen of continuing treatment does not include taking over-the-counter medications, orders of bed rest, drinking fluids, exercises, or other similar activities that can be done without a visit to or supervision from a health care provider.
Non-covered serious health conditions include the common cold, the flu, earaches, upset stomach, minor ulcers, headaches, routine dental or orthodontia problems, routine physicals, eye and dental examinations, etc.
Employers Covered by FMLA
The FMLA applies to any employer with 50 or more employees for each working day during at least 20 work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. It's important to note that these 20 work weeks do not need to be consecutive and can be during the entire current calendar year or the entire preceding calendar year.
Multiple Locations: If an employer has multiple locations, employees at a particular site are not covered by FMLA if:
- The site has fewer than 50 employees, AND
- The total number of employees within a 75-mile radius of that site is less than 50
For example, if a company has 1,000 employees in Indianapolis and 25 employees in Fort Wayne, the Fort Wayne location is exempt from FMLA. However, if the company has 1,000 employees in Indianapolis and 25 employees in Carmel, the Carmel location is covered by FMLA due to its proximity to Indianapolis
By understanding these key aspects of FMLA, HR professionals can ensure compliance and support employees in balancing their work and family responsibilities.
* This is a summary of the law only and that periodically there can be changes to the requirements and administrative interpretations which may affect individual situations.
