Intermittent FMLA in Connecticut
Posted by Tamara
Employees in Connecticut and throughout the rest of the U.S. are entitled to take unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition by the hour, if they wish, and need not schedule the time off in advance.
The practice is called “unscheduled, intermittent FMLA leave.” It is one of the most hotly-debated features of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Under the FMLA, there is nothing to prevent an employee from taking short bursts of unscheduled leave until his or her 12 annual weeks of leave is used up.
The U.S. Department of Labor has acknowledged, in a 182-page report, that unscheduled, intermittent leave is one of the major concerns of Connecticut and other employers. Many have said that such leave was not the original intent of the FMLA, which permits workers with serious medical conditions to take the leave. Employees may also take the leave at the birth of a child or to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.
New 2009 regulations for the FMLA requires employees to follow their employer’s standard reporting policies when taking unscheduled, intermittent time off under FMLA.
Employees who have worked for a specific employer for a minimum of 1,250 hours in a 12-month period are eligible for FMLA, which is essentially unpaid, job-protected leave. “Job-protected” means the employee is guaranteed his or her job back at the conclusion of the leave.
Because of the way the FMLA is currently structured, a pregnant employee with severe “morning sickness” (nausea and vomiting) may take an hour or two off on any given day. The nature of the ailment is such that, obviously, the employee cannot schedule the time off in advance.
If she uses up two weeks, of her FMLA leave this way, she will have only 10 weeks of her 12-week total remaining at the birth of her child.
Compare this to an employee who required weekly chemotherapy treatments. The two or three hours a week necessary for the treatments could be scheduled by the worker.
FMLA applies to employees at business locations with 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
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