Family Medical Leave Policy

Purpose

Policy

• To be eligible for FML under this policy, an employee must have been employed by The University of Alabama (University) for at least 12 months and must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave.
• The 12-month rolling period is measured backward from the date the employee uses any FML.
• FML is generally unpaid. However, the employee can choose to use any available sick, annual, or compensatory time in order to be paid while on approved FML. Paid leave runs concurrently with any unpaid leave provided by the FMLA. For continuous/consecutive leaves, the accrued paid time will be applied consecutively at the onset of the leave. Once the employee goes into an unpaid status, the employee will remain in such status until the end of the approved period of FML. Employees who use paid leave during FML must comply with the University's normal paid leave policies.  
• If an employee does not have any sick, annual, or compensatory leave time available or has elected not to use such paid leave time, the employee's FML or portion thereof will be unpaid. For faculty, pay status will be determined by the Office of Academic Affairs.
• Time off for on-the-job injuries (OJIs) and long-term disability (LTD) runs concurrently with FML.
• Generally, employees must give 30 days' advance notice of the need for FML. If it is not possible to give 30-days' notice, the employee must provide notice to the University as soon as possible and, generally, follow the usual procedures for requesting leave.  
• Employees do not need to share a medical diagnosis to request leave, but must provide enough information to the University so that a determination can be made as to whether the leave qualifies for FMLA protection. The employee must provide notice if the need for leave is for a reason for which FMLA leave was previously taken or certified. 
• The University may require a certification or periodic recertification supporting the need for leave. If the certification provided by the employee is incomplete, they will be provided with written notice of the additional information that is required. 
• Once the University becomes aware that an employee's need for leave is for a reason that may qualify under the FMLA, it will notify the employee if he or she is eligible for FML and, if eligible, will also provide a notice of rights and responsibilities. If the employee is not eligible, he or she will be provided with a reason for the ineligibility. 
• The University will provide notice to the employee if leave will be designated as FMLA leave, and if so, how much leave will be so designated.
• Excluding Military Caregiver Leave, which provides up to 26 weeks of leave to qualifying employees, the maximum FML allowed in a rolling 12-month period is 12 workweeks, whether the FML is paid, unpaid or a combination of both statuses. 
• If an employee would otherwise be required to work mandatory overtime but is unable to do so because of a FML-qualifying reason that limits the employee's ability to work, then the overtime hours the employee would have been required to work counts against the 12-week FML allocation.
• An employee does not necessarily need to use leave in one block. When it is medically necessary or otherwise permitted, employees may take leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule. 
• While on approved FML, an employee's health insurance coverage will continue as if the employee were not on leave. 
• Eligible faculty members should also refer to the Faculty Handbook for additional leave information.
• The University will not interfere with an employee's FMLA rights or retaliate against an employee for using or attempting to use FMLA leave, opposing any practice made unlawful by the FMLA, or being involved in any proceeding under or related to the FMLA.   
• In the event of a violation of the FMLA, an employee may file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, or may bring a private lawsuit against an employer.
• The FMLA does not affect any federal or state laws prohibiting discrimination or supersede any state or local law or collective bargaining agreement that provides greater family and medical leave rights. 

Reasons for Family and Medical Leave

1. Birth and care of the employee's child
2. Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care
3. Serious health condition of the employee that makes the employee unable to perform his or her job functions
4. To care for the employee's spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition
5. Military Caregiver Leave to care for the employee’s spouse, child, parent, or next of kin
6. Military Qualifying Exigency

Military Caregiver Leave to care for the employee’s spouse, child, parent, or next of kin

• A continuation of a serious injury or illness that was incurred or aggravated when the veteran was a member of the Armed Forces and rendered the service member unable to perform the duties of the service member’s office, grade, rank or rating; or
• A physical or mental condition for which the veteran has received a U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Service-Related Disability Rating (VASRD) of 50 percent or greater, and the need for military caregiver leave is related to that condition; or
• A physical or mental condition that substantially impairs the veteran’s ability to work because of a disability or disabilities related to military service, or would do so absent treatment; or
• An injury that is the basis for the veteran’s enrollment in the Department of Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.

Military qualifying exigency for Covered Active Duty Leave

1. Short-notice deployment: Leave can be taken to address issues that arise from the fact that a covered service member is notified of an impending call or order to covered  active duty seven days or less prior to the date of deployment. Leave for this purpose may be used for a period of seven calendar days beginning on the date the covered service member is notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty.
2. Military events and related activities: Leave can be taken to attend official military events, family support or assistance programs, and informational briefings related to the call of the covered service member to covered active duty.
3. Childcare and school activities: Leave can be taken for a variety of childcare and school-related reasons for a child, legal ward or stepchild of a Covered Servicemember, such as to provide child care on an emergency basis (but not a routine, regular, or every day basis), to enroll a child in school, or to attend school meetings for the child where the leave is necessitated by the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of the covered service member.
4. Parental Care: Leave can be taken for certain activities arising from the military member’s covered active duty related to care of the military member’s parent who is incapable of self-care. Examples include arranging for alternative care, providing care on a non-routine, urgent, immediate need basis, admitting or transferring a parent to a new care facility, and attending certain meetings with staff at a care facility, such as meetings with hospice or social service providers.
5. Financial and legal arrangements: Leave can be taken to make financial or legal arrangements to address the covered service member’s absence while on covered active duty, or to act as the covered service member’s representative for purposes of obtaining military service benefits. Leave can be taken only to obtain military service benefits while the covered service member is away on covered active duty or within 90 days of termination of that covered active duty.
6. Counseling: Leave can be taken to attend counseling by someone other than a healthcare provider for the employee, the covered service member, or a child of the covered service member (child, legal ward or stepchild), provided that the need for counseling arises from the military service.
7. Rest and recuperation: Leave can be taken to spend time with a covered service member who is on a short-term, temporary, rest and recuperation leave during the period of deployment. This leave is limited to 15 days for each military rest and recuperation visit.
8. Post-deployment activities: Leave can be taken to attend the covered service member’s post-deployment functions, such as arrival ceremonies or reintegration briefings that occur within 90 days following the termination of the covered active-duty status or to address issues that arise from the death of the covered service member, such as making funeral arrangements.

Definitions

1. Hospital Care: Inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice or residential medical care facility, including any period of incapacity or subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient care. Incapacity is defined to mean inability to work, to attend school or to perform other regular daily activities due to the serious health condition, treatment therefore, or recovery therefrom.
2. Absence Plus Treatment: A period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days (including any subsequent treatment or period of incapacity relating to the same condition), that also involves:

• Treatment two or more times, within 30 days of the first day of incapacity by a healthcare provider, by a nurse or physician's assistant under direct supervision of a healthcare provider or by a provider of healthcare services (e.g., physical therapist) under orders of, or on referral by, a healthcare provider, provided that the first visit to the healthcare provider takes place within seven days of the first day of incapacity and the second visit takes place within 30 days, unless circumstances beyond the employee’s control prevent the second visit from occurring within this 30 day period (i.e., no available appointments during that time period); or
• Treatment by a healthcare provider on at least one occasion that results in a regimen of continuing treatment under the supervision of the healthcare provider, provided the first visit to the healthcare provider takes place within seven days of the first day of incapacity.

• Requires periodic visits for treatment, at least two visits per year, by a healthcare provider, or by a nurse or physician's assistant under direct supervision of a healthcare provider;
• Continues over an extended period of time (including recurring episodes of a single underlying condition); and
• May cause episodic rather than a continuing period of incapacity (e.g., diabetes, epilepsy, etc.)

References

Family and Medical Leave Procedures 

Scope

Office of the Vice President of Finance and Operations