FMLA stands for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. It is a federal law in the United States that allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for specific family or medical reasons while also providing job protection. The leave can be taken concurrently or intermittently based on the employee’s needs and is supported by medical documentation. Eligible employees are provided with job-protected, unpaid family and medical leave for the birth or adoption of a child, placement of child for foster care, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, when the employee has a serious health condition, for military caregivers, and in certain exigent services related to military service. Unpaid family and medical leave run concurrently with paid sick leave, University leave, and New Jersey Family Leave where applicable and/or the pertinent unit’s collective bargaining agreement. Accordingly, the provisions of this section must be read in conjunction with the University’s Family and Medical and Leave Policy, Sick Leave Policy, and NJ Safe Act Leave Policy. As determinations regarding these types of leave can be complex, staff and faculty employees should contact the Office of Human Resources for questions and assistance. To determine if you are eligible, visit Eligibility and Qualification.
Eligibility
To be eligible for FMLA, you must:
- Have at least 12 months of employment (need not be consecutive).
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the FMLA leave start date. Only hours actually worked for the employer count toward the 1,250-hour requirement. Paid leave such as vacation, sick, or holidays are not included.
- Not have exhausted your current FMLA entitlement.
Qualifications
FMLA applies to the following conditions:
- 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, child, 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).
FMLA Vocabulary
“People” Definitions
Immediate Family Member: For the purposes of the FMLA, immediate family member is defined as the child, parent, or spouse of the employee.
Child: Includes foster, legal ward, step, or other child under the age of 18 (unless the adult child is incapable of “self-care” because of a mental or physical handicap) for whom the employee stands in place of a parent.
Parent: The biological, adoptive, foster, or stepparent of an employee or an individual who stands or stood in loco parentis to an employee when he or she was a child.
Spouse: A husband or wife as defined or recognized under state law for purposes of marriage in the state where the employee resides, including common law marriage in states where it is recognized.
Next of Kin Relatives: Nearest blood relative other than spouse, parents, or children, when the injury is incurred in the line of duty, including siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and first cousins.
Health Care Provider: Includes doctor of medicine or osteopathy, podiatrist, dentist, clinical psychologist, optometrist, chiropractor, nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, Christian Science practitioner, clinical social worker, and health care providers from whom the employer or the employer’s group health care plan will accept certification of a serious health condition, and any health care provider meeting the preceding definition authorized to practice in another country.
Condition Definitions
Serious Health Condition: Defined as an injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential care facility or a continuing regimen of treatment by a health care provider for more than three consecutive days. Chronic conditions that cause periodic incapacitation and pregnancy-related conditions also qualify.
Qualifying Exigencies: May include short notice deployments (seven days or less), attending certain military events, arranging for childcare or attending school meetings, addressing certain financial and legal affairs, attending certain counseling sessions, attending post-deployment reintegration briefings, rest and recuperation (up to five days), and other events rising out of active duty or call to duty.
Leave Types
Employees may take FMLA leave intermittently, in separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason, or on a reduced schedule, which involves reducing the usual weekly or daily work hours. Leave type may change during the FMLA entitlement period based on the employee’s situation. When leave is needed for planned medical treatment, the employee should make a reasonable effort to schedule it in a way that minimizes disruption to the employer’s operations.
Continuous leave: An employee is absent for more than three consecutive days and has ongoing medical treatment.
Reduced work schedule leave: An employee continues to work, but the employee’s regular work schedule is reduced to a certain number of hours per day, week, and/or month.
Intermittent/Sporadic leave: An employee takes leave in periodic increments of time; hourly, daily, and/or weekly increments. This leave is generally unscheduled and sporadic in nature.
Duration of leave: Date the leave begins and the return-to-work date; Office visits and health care provider’s appointments for intermittent/sporadic leave.
Continuing Treatment by a Health Care Provider: A period of incapacity (inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities due to a serious health condition) of more than three consecutive calendar days, involving:
- Treatment two or more times by a health care provider, or treatment by a health care provider on at least one occasion that results in a regimen of continuing treatment under the health care provider’s supervision;
- Pregnancy or prenatal care qualifies even if an employee does not receive treatment and even if the care does not last three days;
- A chronic serious health condition, defined as one that requires periodic visits for treatment by a health care provider, continues over an extended period of time, and may cause episodic rather than continuous incapacity (e.g., asthma, severe morning sickness);
- A permanent or long-term condition for which treatment may not be effective (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, severe stroke, terminal stages of a disease);
- An absence to receive multiple treatments by a health care provider either for restorative surgery after an accident or injury or for a condition that likely would result in incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days in the absence of medical treatment (e.g., cancer, severe arthritis).
In addition to these five broad categories, Continuing Treatment by a Health Care Provider may also include allergies or mental illness resulting from stress, but only if they meet all of the other criteria of a serious illness; and substance abuse, but only if the employee is taking leave for treatment by a health care provider. Refer to the Department of Labor fact sheet for additional information regarding the serious health conditions.
How to Request FMLA leave
To begin the process of requesting leave under the FMLA, please contact the Office of Human Resources. The Department of Labor provides additional information on a fact sheet, Requesting Leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
For FMLA leave requests, employees should give a 30-day advance notice. In cases of unforeseeable leave needs, they should provide notice as soon as reasonably possible.
Employees are required to provide sufficient information to determine whether FMLA applies to the leave request. If the need for leave is connected to a previously approved FMLA reason, the employee must explicitly state the reason or the necessity for FMLA leave. All medical certifications and documents with private or confidential information must be submitted directly to Human Resources.