Family Medical Leave Act What is FMLA? FMLA refers to the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is a federal law that guarantees qualifying employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave each year with no threat of job loss. Employees may also use paid leave for qualifying absences instead of using unpaid leave, using paid leave still counts towards the 12 weeks of FMLA. FMLA also requires that employers covered by the law maintain the health benefits for eligible workers just as if he/she were working.

Family Medical Leave Act The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act (WFMLA) provide the employee with the right to take job-protected leave with continued medical benefits when he/she needs time off from work to care for himself/herself or a family member who is seriously ill, to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, or to attend to the affairs of a family member who is called to active duty in the military. The employee may be eligible for more generous leave provisions. Leave taken for FMLA-eligible reasons must run concurrently under FMLA, WFMLA, and other leave provisions available. The leave available under the various provisions is exhausted simultaneously. To understand how the integration of laws with state and university policies affects the employee, please contact your human resources office.

Family Medical Leave Act Applying for FMLA If an employee is going to be missing 5 or more days for medical reasons, please contact the Human Resources and Supervisor of the need for FMLA. The Human Resources department will help determine how much paid leave the employee has available for use if he/she choses to use paid leave. Eligibility In order to be eligible for family and medical leave, the employee needs to work a specific number of hours during the year. For eligibility purposes, all State of Wisconsin agencies, including the University of Wisconsin System are considered one employer.

Family Medical Leave Act WFMLA The employee must have worked for the State for at least: 52 consecutive weeks; and 1,000 hours during the preceding 52-week period. Paid leave used counts towards the 1,000 worked.

Family Medical Leave Act FMLA The employee must have worked for the State for at least: 12 months (months do not need to be consecutive); and 1,250 hours during the preceding 12-month period. Only actual hours worked count towards the 1,250 hours. Eligibility for WFMLA and FMLA is determined by considering all hours worked up to the employee’s first day of leave.

Family Medical Leave Act Employee Request for W/FMLA (UWS 80) – Complete and submit this form to the Human Resource Office to request W/FMLA-protected leave. If the employee requests a WFMLA leave to care for a domestic partner or a domestic partner’s parent, he/she must complete this form in order to certify the domestic partnership for WFMLA purposes. Please request this form as soon as the employee knows of the need for leave. Certification by Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition (UWS 82) – The health care provider must complete this form to certify the employee’s serious health condition if he/she is taking a concurrent FMLA and WFMLA leave. Please have the physician return this form to the HR Department as soon as it is completed.

Family Medical Leave Act WFMLA Certification form (UWS 82a) – If the employee is taking a WFMLA leave only – he/she should use this form to certify the employee’s own serious health condition. Certification by Health Care Provider for a Family Member’s Serious Health Condition (UWS 83) – The family member’s health care provider must complete this form to certify his/her serious health condition if the employee is taking a concurrent FMLA and WFMLA leave. Please have the physician return this form to the HR Department as soon as it is completed.

Family Medical Leave Act Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military Family Leave (UWS 84) – Complete and submit this form to the Human Resource Office to certify that an exigency was created because a family member is on covered active military duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty to a foreign country or international waters. The family member may be in either the regular or reserve component of the Armed Forces. Certification of Serious Injury or Illness of a Current Servicemember or Veteran for Military Caregiver Leave (UWS 85) – Complete and submit this form to the Human Resource Office to request FMLA-protected leave to care for a current military service member or veteran, who is a family member or next of kin, who is seriously ill or injured due to military service.

Family Medical Leave Act Leave Entitlement for all employees is based on a calendar year. If leave is taken for a child, a child is defined as a son or daughter who is biological, adopted, a foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward or a child of a person standing in loco parentis to the child. If the employee is in an in loco parentis relationship with a child, this means that the employee considers himself/herself to have a parental relationship to a child but an employee does not have a legal or biological relationship to the child. WFMLA Eligible employees are entitled to: Up to six weeks in a calendar for the birth or adoption of a child, to begin within 16 weeks of the birth or placement of that child (no more than one 6-week period per event). Up to two weeks in a calendar year to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, or parent (including parents of the employee’s spouse or domestic partner) with a serious health condition. Up to two weeks in a calendar year for his/her own serious health condition.

Family Medical Leave Act Leave Entitlement (cont) FMLA Eligible employees are entitled to: Up to twelve weeks of leave in a calendar year for: the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth (no more than one 12-week period per event); the placement of a child for adoption or foster care with the employee and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement (no more than one 12-week period per event); 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 his or her job; any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter or parent is a member of the active or reserve component of the Armed Forces and is on covered active duty or has been notified of a call to active duty in a foreign country or international waters; or

Family Medical Leave Act Caring for Military Members (continued) Up to twenty-six weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a current military service member or eligible veteran* with a serious injury or illness if the employee is the service member’s or veteran’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave). Leave provisions to care for an injured or ill military service member are based on a rolling 12 month schedule. In order to be eligible to take a FMLA-covered leave to care for a veteran, the veteran must have been honorably discharged within the 5-year period before the family member first takes military caregiver leave. Intermittent Leave An employee may take WFLMA or FMLA on a intermittent or reduced schedule basis. Only the amount of leave actually taken will count against leave entitlements. Contact your human resources for more information.

Family Medical Leave Act Substitution of Paid Leave The employee may choose to take his/her W/FMLA leave as paid or unpaid. The employee’s benefits and continuous service will be uninterrupted regardless of whether or not he/she takes the W/FMLA paid or unpaid. If he/she takes the W/FMLA as unpaid, the employee will still be responsible for his/her share of the premiums.

Family Medical Leave Act WFMLA Under WFMLA, the employee may elect to substitute any type of paid leave (e.g. vacation, sick leave or personal holiday), even if they are typically not allowed to use that type of leave. Example – under WFMLA, a parent can use six weeks of any type of paid leave, including sick leave, due to the birth of child. This is not a valid reason to use sick leave per UW policy, but since the leave is covered by WFMLA, the employee can use sick leave for this reason.

Family Medical Leave Act FMLA Under FMLA, the employee may elect to substitute paid leave only per the rules governing that type of leave. Any type of paid leave, except sick leave, can be used at any time during a FMLA leave. Sick leave may only be used per UW policy under FMLA. When WFMLA and FMLA run concurrently, the employee may follow the leave substitutions provisions under WFMLA. Example – an employee may not use sick leave to care for a new child under UW policy while using FMLA. However, if the employee qualifies for WFMLA and FMLA at the same time, the employee may use sick leave to care for a new child under the provisions of WFMLA.

Family Medical Leave Act For further information on FMLA/WFMLA, please see the below links: This information along with the forms and publications: https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/benefits/leave/fmla/ The University of Wisconsin System UPS Operational Policy: https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/download/policies/ops/bn4.pdf

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