(an e-Mail will do), and its FMLA Obligations Will be Triggered
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights are very complicated. But, in general, most of the complications fall on the employer.
This is particularly true in cases where the need for FMLA Leave arises suddenly, as opposed to in advance of a scheduled surgery, for example).
 |
| Valuable, but Complex Law |
When You Need FMLA Leave, Send an e-Mail to your Boss and HR That Specifies the Illness or Injury That is Preventing You From Working
An employee seeking FMLA Leave for the first time need not say "I want Family and Medical leave," or "I am taking FMLA Leave." Rather, the employer need only specify the physical ailment that he/she is experiencing, or that a family member is experiencing, that will require the employee to miss time from work.
Merely saying, "I am sick" or "my daughter is sick" is NOT sufficient notice of the need for FMLA Leave.
The issue as to whether an employee properly gave notice of the need for FMLA Leave is common. Avoid any possibility of that issue arising by sending an e-mail to your employer (or having a family member send one if you are ill) specifying exactly what is going on.
Once You Have Secured FMLA Leave - Apply for Short-Term Disability Benefits
Family and Medical Leave enables you to take off from work due to your illness or that of a family member.
You may be required to or may choose to take your accrued PTO, vacation, personal or sick time pay while out on FMLA. However, if you are out of work due to your own serious health condition, and your employer has Short-Term Disability insurance, you may be entitled to received up to 2/3rds of your pay while out on FMLA. Click Here to read our comprehensive Post examining the interplay between FMLA Leave and Short-Term Disability Benefits.
After You Have Given Notice to the Company of Your Need for Family Leave, an Employer MUST Provide an Employee With Clear Notification of His/Her Rights Under FMLA
Once you have provided notice of your need for FMLA Leave to your employer, it has certain obligations that must be fulfilled. Here are the pertinent parts of the Regulation that spells out the employer's obligations (bolded portions are especially important):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously, the FMLA is rather complicated. If you require any sort of guidance, contact a local attorney with experience in FMLA law.
Call 610-647-5027 for a free telephone consultation
An employee seeking FMLA Leave for the first time need not say "I want Family and Medical leave," or "I am taking FMLA Leave." Rather, the employer need only specify the physical ailment that he/she is experiencing, or that a family member is experiencing, that will require the employee to miss time from work.
Merely saying, "I am sick" or "my daughter is sick" is NOT sufficient notice of the need for FMLA Leave.
The issue as to whether an employee properly gave notice of the need for FMLA Leave is common. Avoid any possibility of that issue arising by sending an e-mail to your employer (or having a family member send one if you are ill) specifying exactly what is going on.
Once You Have Secured FMLA Leave - Apply for Short-Term Disability Benefits
Family and Medical Leave enables you to take off from work due to your illness or that of a family member.
You may be required to or may choose to take your accrued PTO, vacation, personal or sick time pay while out on FMLA. However, if you are out of work due to your own serious health condition, and your employer has Short-Term Disability insurance, you may be entitled to received up to 2/3rds of your pay while out on FMLA. Click Here to read our comprehensive Post examining the interplay between FMLA Leave and Short-Term Disability Benefits.
After You Have Given Notice to the Company of Your Need for Family Leave, an Employer MUST Provide an Employee With Clear Notification of His/Her Rights Under FMLA
Once you have provided notice of your need for FMLA Leave to your employer, it has certain obligations that must be fulfilled. Here are the pertinent parts of the Regulation that spells out the employer's obligations (bolded portions are especially important):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
§ 825.300 Employer
notice requirements.
.
. .
(b) Eligibility notice.
(1) When an employee requests FMLA leave, or when the employer acquires knowledge that an employee's leave may be for an FMLA-qualifying reason, the employer must notify the employee of the employee's eligibility to take FMLA leave within five business days, absent extenuating circumstances. See§ 825.110 for definition of an eligible employee and § 825.801 for special hours of service eligibility requirements for airline flight crews. Employee eligibility is determined (and notice must be provided) at the commencement of the first instance of leave for each FMLA-qualifying reason in the applicable 12-month period. See§§825.127(c) and 825.200(b). All FMLA absences for the same qualifying reason are considered a single leave and employee eligibility as to that reason for leave does not change during the applicable 12-month period.
(1) When an employee requests FMLA leave, or when the employer acquires knowledge that an employee's leave may be for an FMLA-qualifying reason, the employer must notify the employee of the employee's eligibility to take FMLA leave within five business days, absent extenuating circumstances. See§ 825.110 for definition of an eligible employee and § 825.801 for special hours of service eligibility requirements for airline flight crews. Employee eligibility is determined (and notice must be provided) at the commencement of the first instance of leave for each FMLA-qualifying reason in the applicable 12-month period. See§§825.127(c) and 825.200(b). All FMLA absences for the same qualifying reason are considered a single leave and employee eligibility as to that reason for leave does not change during the applicable 12-month period.
(2) The eligibility notice must state whether
the employee is eligible for FMLA leave as defined in §825.110. If the employee is not eligible for
FMLA leave, the notice must state at least one reason why the employee is not
eligible, including as applicable the number of months the employee has been
employed by the employer, the hours of service with the employer during the
12-month period, and whether the employee is employed at a worksite where 50 or
more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that worksite. Notification
of eligibility may be oral or in writing; employers may use optional Form
WH-381 (Notice of Eligibility and Rights and Responsibility) to provide such
notification to employees. Prototypes are available from the nearest office of
the Wage and Hour Division or on the Internet at www.dol.gov/whd. The employer
is obligated to translate this notice in any situation in which it is obligated
to do so in § 825.300(a)(4).
(3) If,
at the time an employee provides notice of a subsequent need for FMLA leave
during the applicable 12-month period due to a different FMLA-qualifying
reason, and the employee's eligibility status has not changed, no additional
eligibility notice is required. If, however, the employee's eligibility status
has changed (e.g., if the employee has not met the hours of service
requirement in the 12 months preceding the commencement of leave for the
subsequent qualifying reason or the size of the workforce at the worksite has
dropped below 50 employees), the employer must notify the employee of the
change in eligibility status within five business days, absent extenuating
circumstances.
(1) Employers shall provide written notice
detailing the specific expectations and obligations of the employee and
explaining any consequences of a failure to meet these obligations. The
employer is obligated to translate this notice in any situation in which it is
obligated to do so in § 825.300(a)(4). This notice shall be provided
to the employee each time the eligibility notice is provided pursuant to
paragraph (b) of this section. If leave has already begun, the notice should be
mailed to the employee's address of record. Such specific notice must include,
as appropriate:
(i) That
the leave may be designated and counted against the employee's annual FMLA
leave entitlement if qualifying (see§§ 825.300(c) and 825.301) and the applicable 12-month period
for FMLA entitlement (see§§ 825.127(c), 825.200(b), (f),
and (g));
(ii) Any requirements for the employee to furnish certification
of a serious health condition, serious injury or illness, or qualifying
exigency arising out of covered active duty or call to covered active duty
status, and the consequences of failing to do so (see§§ 825.305, 825.309, 825.310, 825.313);
(iii) The employee's
right to substitute paid leave, whether the employer will require the
substitution of paid leave, the conditions related to any substitution, and
the employee's entitlement to take unpaid FMLA leave if the employee does not
meet the conditions for paid leave (see§ 825.207);
(iv) Any requirement for
the employee to make any premium payments to maintain health benefits and
the arrangements for making such payments (see§ 825.210), and the possible consequences of
failure to make such payments on a timely basis (i.e., the
circumstances under which coverage may lapse);
(v) The
employee's status as a key employee and the potential consequence that
restoration may be denied following FMLA leave, explaining the conditions
required for such denial (see§ 825.218);
(vi) The employee's
rights to maintenance of benefits during the FMLA leave and restoration to
the same or an equivalent job upon return from FMLA leave (see§§ 825.214 and 825.604); and
(vii) The employee's
potential liability for payment of health insurance premiums paid by the
employer during the employee's unpaid FMLA leave if the employee fails to
return to work after taking FMLA leave (see§ 825.213).
(2) The
notice of rights and responsibilities may include other information—e.g., whether
the employer will require periodic reports of the employee's status and intent
to return to work—but is not required to do so.
(3) The
notice of rights and responsibilities may be accompanied by any required
certification form.
(4) If
the specific information provided by the notice of rights and responsibilities
changes, the employer shall, within five business days of receipt of the
employee's first notice of need for leave subsequent to any change, provide
written notice referencing the prior notice and setting forth any of the
information in the notice of rights and responsibilities that has changed. For
example, if the initial leave period was paid leave and the subsequent leave
period would be unpaid leave, the employer may need to give notice of the
arrangements for making premium payments.
(5) Employers are also expected to responsively
answer questions from employees concerning their rights and responsibilities
under the FMLA.
(6) A
prototype notice of rights and responsibilities may be obtained from local
offices of the Wage and Hour Division or from the Internet at www.dol.gov/whd. Employers
may adapt the prototype notice as appropriate to meet these notice
requirements. The notice of rights and responsibilities may be distributed
electronically so long as it otherwise meets the requirements of this section.
(1) The employer is responsible in all
circumstances for designating leave as FMLA-qualifying, and for giving notice
of the designation to the employee as provided in this section. When the
employer has enough information to determine whether the leave is being taken
for a FMLA-qualifying reason (e.g., after receiving a
certification), the employer must notify the employee whether the leave will be
designated and will be counted as FMLA leave within five business days absent
extenuating circumstances. Only one notice of designation is required for
each FMLA-qualifying reason per applicable 12-month period, regardless of
whether the leave taken due to the qualifying reason will be a continuous block
of leave or intermittent or reduced schedule leave. If the employer determines
that the leave will not be designated as FMLA-qualifying (e.g., if
the leave is not for a reason covered by FMLA or the FMLA leave entitlement has
been exhausted), the employer must notify the employee of that determination.
If the employer requires paid leave to be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave, or
that paid leave taken under an existing leave plan be counted as FMLA leave,
the employer must inform the employee of this designation at the time of
designating the FMLA leave.
(2) If the employer has sufficient information
to designate the leave as FMLA leave immediately after receiving notice of the
employee's need for leave, the employer may provide the employee with the
designation notice at that time.
(3) If the employer will require the employee
to present a fitness-for-duty certification to be restored to employment, the
employer must provide notice of such requirement with the designation notice. If
the employer will require that the fitness-for-duty certification address the
employee's ability to perform the essential functions of the employee's
position, the employer must so indicate in the designation notice, and must
include a list of the essential functions of the employee's position. See§ 825.312. If the employer handbook or other
written documents (if any) describing the employer's leave policies clearly
provide that a fitness-for-duty certification will be required in specific
circumstances (e.g., by stating that fitness-for-duty certification
will be required in all cases of back injuries for employees in a certain
occupation), the employer is not required to provide written notice of the
requirement with the designation notice, but must provide oral notice no later
than with the designation notice.
(4) The
designation notice must be in writing. A prototype designation notice may be
obtained from local offices of the Wage and Hour Division or from the Internet
at www.dol.gov/whd. If the leave is not designated as FMLA
leave because it does not meet the requirements of the Act, the notice to the
employee that the leave is not designated as FMLA leave may be in the form of a
simple written statement.
(5) If
the information provided by the employer to the employee in the designation
notice changes (e.g.,the employee exhausts the FMLA leave entitlement),
the employer shall provide, within five business days of receipt of the
employee's first notice of need for leave subsequent to any change, written
notice of the change.
(6) The employer must notify the employee of
the amount of leave counted against the employee's FMLA leave entitlement. If
the amount of leave needed is known at the time the employer designates the
leave as FMLA-qualifying, the employer must notify the employee of the number
of hours, days, or weeks that will be counted against the employee's FMLA leave
entitlement in the designation notice. If it is not possible to provide the
hours, days, or weeks that will be counted against the employee's FMLA leave
entitlement (such as in the case of unforeseeable intermittent leave), then the
employer must provide notice of the amount of leave counted against the
employee's FMLA leave entitlement upon the request by the employee, but no more
often than once in a 30-day period and only if leave was taken in that period.
The notice of the amount of leave counted against the employee's FMLA
entitlement may be oral or in writing. If such notice is oral, it shall be
confirmed in writing, no later than the following payday (unless the payday is
less than one week after the oral notice, in which case the notice must be no
later than the subsequent payday). Such written notice may be in any form,
including a notation on the employee's pay stub.
(e) Consequences
of failing to provide notice. Failure to follow the notice
requirements set forth in this section may constitute an interference with,
restraint, or denial of the exercise of an employee's FMLA rights. An employer may be liable for compensation
and benefits lost by reason of the violation, for other actual monetary losses
sustained as a direct result of the violation, and for appropriate equitable or
other relief, including employment, reinstatement, promotion, or any other
relief tailored to the harm suffered. See§825.400(c).
Obviously, the FMLA is rather complicated. If you require any sort of guidance, contact a local attorney with experience in FMLA law.
 |
FMLA Lawyers in Philadelphia Area Representing Employees Who Need Assistance in Chester
County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, Delaware County, Lancaster County and
Berks County
Pennsylvania
Employment Lawyers Provides Free Telephone Consultations
If you
are looking for an employment lawyer, and live or work in Phoenixville,
Chester, Lionville, Collegeville, Springfield, Ambler, Blue Bell, Reading,
Lancaster, Devon, Villanova, Merion, Ardmore, Gladwyne, Wynnewood, Coatesville,
Kennett Square, Pottstown, or any of their surrounding towns,
feel free to send us an e-mail via our Contact Form or give us a call at 610-647-5027. We are always glad to
spend some time with people via a free telephone consultation.
Thanks
for checking in with us.