Your Rights

Leave for your own or a family member’s medical condition

Family emergencies, illnesses or significant events can require an employee to focus time and resources away from the workplace. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires certain employers to provide unpaid time off for serious health issues or situations, including family or personal illness, adoption, pregnancy, foster care placement, or military leave.

What is family and medical leave?

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specific 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. Specifically, covered employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons: for the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee; for placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (i.e., 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.  Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

What is the family medical leave process?

The FMLA requires employers and employees to take specific steps.  Generally, covered employers must (1) Post a notice explaining rights and responsibilities under the FMLA;  (2) Include information about the FMLA in their employee handbooks or provide information to new employees upon hire; (3) When an employee requests FMLA leave or the employer acquires knowledge that leave may be for a FMLA-qualifying reason, the employer must provide the employee with notice concerning his or her eligibility for FMLA leave and his or her rights and responsibilities under the FMLA; and (4) Notify employees whether leave is designated as FMLA leave and the amount of leave that will be deducted from the employee’s FMLA entitlement.

Employees must comply with their employer’s usual and customary requirements for requesting leave and provide enough information for their employer to reasonably determine whether the FMLA may apply to the leave request. When an employee seeks leave for a FMLA-qualifying reason for the first time, the employee does not need to expressly assert FMLA rights or even mention the FMLA. If an employee later requests additional leave for the same qualifying condition, the employee must specifically reference either the qualifying reason for leave or the need for FMLA leave. 

What is the law on family and medical leave?

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993: The federal law that provides employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave for various reasons, including, to care for a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or recover from a serious illness. The FMLA provides additional rights, including protection of health insurance benefits, protection of the employee to not have FMLA rights interfered with or denied, and protection of the employee from retaliation by an employer for exercising rights under the FMLA.

Additional Resources

U.S. Department of Labor

Examples of Possible FMLA violations

failing to recognize serious health condition

You had a serious health condition or are caring for a family member with a serious health condition. You have made your supervisor and human resources aware of these issues. However, they have ignored your circumstances. Later, your employer told you that it did not start the FMLA process because you did not specifically mention the FMLA. Your employer also suggests that it was just a bad time for you to take leave.

pressuring employee on fmla leave

Your employer certified FMLA leave, but your supervisor is putting pressure on you to come back to work. He is constantly asking for updates and insinuating that you may face negative consequences if you use all of your FMLA leave. Your supervisor has started to ask you if it is possible to come back to work before your FMLA leave expires or has asked you to help out by completing some work tasks from your home while on leave.

disciplining employee for FMLA leave

You have completed your leave and come back to work. Your supervisor has made negative comments about you having taken leave. Soon you receive a negative performance review based on work not performed while you were on leave, which doesn’t seem fair to you. Or you receive a disciplinary warning for events that occurred before you went on leave. The disciplinary action does not make sense to you, and it seems that your supervisor is getting back at you for taking leave.

counting fmla leave toward absence policy

Your employer has an attendance policy that counts absences and results in progressive disciplinary action. You have been approved for intermittent FMLA leave, taking time off to attend medical appointments for yourself or a family member. Your supervisor has expressed annoyance at you taking leave. Later, you receive a disciplinary action for attendance issues and you notice that your supervisor has counted the days covered by the FMLA.

failing to reinstate

You have returned from work from FMLA leave, and your employer informs you that you will be reinstated to another position that is not equivalent to your prior position. Your duties, schedule, wage, or work location are different. You feel that this change is a demotion. Your employer is also not reinstating all of your benefits, indicating that you need to re-qualify.