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LEGAL EASE

Six Tips

to becoming an expert on FMLA

By George F. “Rick” Evans

Another set of initials to remember — just what you wanted, right? ered. Those 12 months of employment don’t have to be consecutive.
FMLA. Short for the Family Medical Leave Act. It isn’t a new law. Instead, the service time can be pieced together over a period of time.
In fact, it was passed more than two decades ago. Yet, there are still
a lot of misunderstandings of what it means, what it does, how it af- 3 Third, any employee seeking to invoke this law is entitled
fects you and so on. Here’s the scoop on the basics of what you need
to know. to time off from his/her job but it’s not an unlimited
amount of time — it’s 12 weeks per year. Under some cir-
The purpose of the law is to support family structures by allow- cumstances, the employee can take time off in small chunks (i.e., a
ing an employee to take time off to tend to family matters. How few hours a day) rather than take entire days and weeks off work.
much time? What sort of family matters qualify? With or without
pay? These are the sorts of questions employers need answers to 4 Fourth, The employee can’t be fired or replaced during this
unless they want to wind up in court. The U.S. Department of time. The job, or a substantially similar job (i.e., compa-
Labor received, on average, one complaint by a disgruntled em-
ployee every 80 minutes every single working day in 2014. rable pay, responsibility, etc.) must be protected for the em-
So, what do you need to know as an em-
ployer? And, of equal import, what ployee to resume upon his/her return. And the
are your rights as an employee?
Here are six things that will make employee can’t be penalized in any way for exercising
you a curbside expert in FMLA.
his/her rights to take leave.

1 First and foremost, 5 Fifth, time off is without pay.
this federal law only
Employers may chose to pay
applies to companies some or all of the employee’s
time off, but that’s not required
with 50 or more employees. under this law. And, the employer
may be able to require the employee
Smaller businesses don’t fall to first use up his/her vacation or
paid time off days which, of course,
under its auspices and are ex- is typically time off with pay.

empt from its provisions. But,

note that all 50 employees don’t 6 Sixth, the definition of a fam-

have to work at the same location. ily matter is exceptionally
broad. It includes events such
It’s legally sufficient if there are as the employee’s own serious medical
problems, pregnancy, the birth or adop-
50 employees within 75 miles. tion of a child or placement of a foster
child, and the serious medical problems of a
2 Second, not all em- spouse, child or parent. There are separate, more
ployees benefit from liberal rules for employees who need time off to
care for a member of the military.
FMLA. Only those who

have worked for the employer for

at least 12 months and put in 1,250

hours during those 12 months are cov-

32 San Antonio Medicine • July 2015