Some Indiana employees may wonder how much time they can take off from work to care for medical or family needs, and still keep their jobs.  The answer for most employees would be 12 weeks, but that time might be extended significantly because of other extenuating circumstances.

Indiana employers must provide employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualified life events under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.  The legislation covers the employee’s serious health condition. It also allows employees to take time off to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or to care for a newborn, newly adopted, or new foster child. 

Employee must be given time off, during which their jobs are protected.  It is important to note FMLA leave is unpaid, but does provide that the employee may return to work at the end of the qualified period with no penalty or loss of benefits.

Some employees enjoy additional time allotments provided by union contracts, or established company policy.  Other employees will return to work with a qualifying disability under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and will receive reasonable accommodation provided for under the ADA. 

If an employee does not have the benefit of additional protection, beyond that which is afforded under FMLA, then the employee must return to work when the 12 week leave time has expired.  Should the employee fail to return to work, at that time, the employee could be terminated.  Some employers might consider rehiring the employee when he or she is able to return to work, but this is entirely voluntary. Employers are not required to rehire employees who have exceeded their leave under FMLA.

Employers might find that a policy of rehiring employees is worth considering.  This could provide the company with a well qualified employee at a later date, when an opening is available.     

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 5:43 am and is filed under Labor & Employment Laws, State Disability Laws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.