Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

• for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
• for the placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
• to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
• to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

FAQs: FMLA

1. An employee has taken a protected leave and now wants to return to work. What should we do?

An employee returning from an FMLA leave is entitled to return to the same or substantially equivalent job. In a staffing situation, this usually means that the employee must be returned to the job that the employee left before the leave if the position still exists. By refusing to allow the employee to return to the assignment, the employer could be held responsible for a violation of the FMLA.

2. Which employers are bound by the FMLA?

All employers engaged in commerce that employ 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius are bound by the FMLA.

3. What must the employee do to be eligible for leave?

The employee must have worked for you for a total of at least 12 months (need not be consecutive) and must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately prior to the beginning of the leave.

4. What happens in states that already have a family or medical leave law?

If your state law is more liberal and grants greater leave rights, the state law will govern to the extent the benefits offered are more favorable than the FMLA.

5. Must an employer inform employees of their rights under the FMLA?

Every employer bound by the FMLA must post on its premises, in conspicuous places, a notice explaining the FMLA’s provisions and concerning procedures for filing complaints of violations of the FMLA. Individual states may also require state specific postings.