The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to:
- Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
- the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
- the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
- to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
- a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of their job;
- any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
- Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
All employees are required to follow the usual and customary call-in procedures for reporting an absence. When an employee has been off work more than three consecutive calendar days, other than for scheduled vacation or holiday, the employee should complete the Family Medical Leave form, which can be obtained from the intranet, the employee’s payroll coordinator or from Human Resources.
When an employee requests Family and Medical Leave (FMLA leave), or when the employee’s division or department acquires knowledge that an employee’s leave may be for an FMLA-qualifying reason, the division or department representative must contact Human Resources at (859) 258-3030 or fmlarequests@lexingtonky.gov. HR’s FMLA administrator will notify the employee of the employee’s eligibility to take FMLA leave within five business days, absent extenuating circumstances.
In all cases, the employee must provide notice of the need for Family and Medical Leave no later than two business days of return to work from leave. If an employee does not comply with the employer’s usual notice and procedural requirements, and no unusual circumstances justify the failure to comply, FMLA-protected leave may be delayed or denied.
LFUCG requires that employees use their accrued and accumulated leave time in conjunction with their unpaid FMLA leave. Before entering a no-pay status, the order in which leave shall be used is sick, vacation and then any other form of accrued or accumulated leave. While on FMLA leave, employees are entitled to reserve 15 hours of sick leave and 15 hours of vacation leave. Before they enter unpaid status, those reserves will also be used.
The FMLA leave time reporting code should be reported in conjunction with the time reporting code that an employee uses to continue their pay. For questions or concerns about the payroll processing of this benefit, including payroll codes, contact Payroll at (859) 258-3034 or payroll@lexingtonky.gov.
The FMLA poster can be found within each division, in Appendix A of this handbook and online.
Reference:
29 CFR Part 825