Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act allows an employee to take time off for various reasons. It is a misconception that this is only for women who become pregnant. This act is now much more far reaching, allowing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the following reasons:
  1. Birth and care of the eligible employee's child, or placement for adoption or foster care of a child with the employee;
  2. Care of an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent) who has a serious health condition; or 
  3. Care of the employee's own serious health condition; or
  4. Adoption of a child, including overseas travel.
Furthermore, this act allows an employee to retain group health benefits. This means that during the time that a mother is recovering from birth or simply bonding with her new-born during his/her first weeks of life, that the employer cannot take away her health insurance.

There are certain requirements that need to be met in order to qualify for the FMLA. Some of these can be pretty stringent but it is important to know that just because the FMLA might not work for you, they cannot discriminate against you for being pregnant. To qualify for the FMLA an employee must:
  1. Be employed by the employer for a least 12 months: and
  2. worked at least 1,250 hours during that 12 month period.
However, these 12 months do not have to be consecutive. They can be spread out during a much longer period. There are other requirements for the employer to be considered a qualified employer. The main criteria for the employer to qualify is that they have at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.

Lastly, the law has been amended recently to extend the benefits of the FMLA to family of service-members injured during combat. This allows the family to take up to 26 weeks off during any 12 month period to allow care of this service-member. This is basically half a year off to care for another.