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Any employee with a serious medical issue or caring for an immediate family member with a serious medical issue (as defined under Serious Health Condition in the Department of Labor’s Employee’s Guide to FMLA document) must contact Human Resources to fill out the Request for FMLA Leave form located under Forms on the HR web page. 

Once HR receives a Request for FMLA form from an employee, an HR team member will work with that employee on completing the needed documentation and will continuously notify the employee’s supervisor of the status of their leave. 

Who can take FMLA Leave? 

In order to be eligible to take leave under the FMLA, an employee must: 

  • work for a covered employer (Mid); 
  • have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of leave; 
  • work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles; and 

 

When does an employee need to use FMLA leave? 

Mid must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons: 

  • for the birth of a son or daughter, and to bond with the newborn child; 
  • for the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care, and to bond with that child; 
  • to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent – but not a parent “in-law”) with a serious health condition; 
  • to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition; or 
  • for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or call to covered active-duty status as a member of the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces. 

The FMLA also allows eligible employees to take up to 26 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a “single 12-month period” to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness. 

Is FMLA leave paid or unpaid? 

The FMLA only requires unpaid leave. However, the law permits an employee to elect, or the employer to require the employee, to use accrued paid vacation leave, paid sick or family leave for some or all of the FMLA leave period. 

**Mid policy requires employees to use sick, vacation, and personal time to be used before leave without pay becomes available. When paid leave is used for an FMLA-covered reason, the leave is FMLA-protected. 

Does an employee have to take leave all at once or can it be taken periodically or to reduce the employee’s schedule? 

When it is medically necessary, employees may take FMLA leave intermittently – taking leave in separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason – or on a reduced leave schedule – reducing the employee’s usual weekly or daily work schedule. When leave is needed for planned medical treatment, the employee must make a reasonable effort to schedule treatment so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operation. 

Leave to care for or bond with a newborn child or for a newly placed adopted or foster child may only be taken intermittently with the employer’s approval and must conclude within 12 months after the birth or placement. 

Can an employer change an employee’s job when the employee takes intermittent or reduced schedule leave? 

Employees needing intermittent/reduced schedule leave for foreseeable medical treatments must work with their employers to schedule the leave so as not disrupt the employer’s operations, subject to the approval of the employee’s health care provider. In such cases, the employer may transfer the employee temporarily to an alternative job with equivalent pay and benefits that accommodate recurring periods of leave better than the employee’s regular job