Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
To be eligible for Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), a University employee must have worked for the state for at least 12 months, and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve (12) months period prior to the request for FMLA leave, including “on-call” hours, and is employed at a worksite where 50 or more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that worksite. The state government is considered a single employer for the purpose of determining FMLA leave.
An eligible employee will be granted up to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA leave, in each calendar year, for any of the following reasons:
- For the birth of a son or daughter and to care for that child;
- For placement of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care with the employee;
- To care for the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition;
- Because of a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the employee's 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 service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
An eligible employee requesting FMLA leave must give thirty (30) days of advance notice to the employer of the need to take unpaid FMLA leave when the need for leave is foreseeable. When the need for leave is not foreseeable, such notice must be given as soon as practicable. The use of FMLA leave will be subject to verification. The University may require that an employee’s request for FMLA leave to care for the employee’s seriously ill spouse, son, daughter, or parent, or due to the employee’s own serious health condition, be supported by a certification issued by the health care provider.
Eligible employees will be required to substitute their accrued sick leave for unpaid FMLA leave when the FMLA leave request qualifies for sick leave usage, or an eligible employee may elect to substitute accrued annual leave for unpaid FMLA leave.