Support Staff
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Staff employed at the University for a total of 12 months (may have been intermittent employment) and having at least 1,250 work hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of FMLA leave. The Department of Labor (DOL) has revised this regulation to provide that a service break of seven years or more need not be counted in determining whether an employee has been employed for at least 12 months.
The 1,250 hours requirement is counted only for hours actually worked and does not count hours spent on vacation, sick, and personal leave, etc. However, under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employees called to active (or National Guard) duty are entitled, upon their return to employment, to all the benefits of employment that they would have obtained if they had been continuously employed.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 is a federal law enacted to help employees balance their work and family life and to promote the stability and economic security of families. It allows eligible employees to take job-protected unpaid leave, or substitute appropriate paid leave if the employee has earned or accrued it, for up to a total of 12 workweeks during a 12- month period (July 1 - June 30) for a family or personal serious health condition which qualifies under FMLA.
The FMLA also provides leave for service members and their families under certain circumstances.
On October 28, 2009 President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2647). In section 565, the legislation makes important changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Specifically, military caregiver leave has been expanded so it may be used to care for veterans undergoing treatment, recuperation or therapy for an injury, as long as the veteran was a member of the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves within five years of requiring care. The amendments also expand military caregiver leave so that employees may use it to care for a covered service member's serious injury or illness incurred because service on active duty aggravated an existing or preexisting injuries. Previously, the act only allowed caregiver leave for serious illnesses or injuries incurred on active duty.
The legislation also expands the use of qualifying exigency leave. Under the new law, qualifying exigency leave will now cover family members of the regular Armed Forces deployed to a foreign country, in addition to current coverage of family members of the Guard or Reserves.