10 FMLA Facts You Need to Know

We’re human first and workers second, but that doesn’t mean we always put ourselves first. In fact, it’s hard to know what to do in medical emergencies or when we have to care for family members, whether that means elderly parents or newborns.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), passed in 1993, mandates that covered employers offer as many as 12 weeks of unpaid leave without jeopardizing the job status of eligible employees for various family and individual medical situations. Situations can include pregnancy, childcare needs, care for an immediate family member experiencing health conditions, and an employee’s own health situation. The FMLA ultimately allows employees to take a leave of absence from work without losing their job.

What are the most important things to know about the FMLA to figure out how it works in your favor? We’ve covered the details to know.

FMLA leave is (often) unpaid, but your employment status is protected.

Unpaid leave must be awarded for the following circumstances:

• Caring for a child after birth
• Caring for a spouse, children, or parent with an immediately pressing health condition
• Addressing a serious health condition that interrupts your performance at work

You must meet specific criteria.

You must have worked for your current employer for at least 12 months to qualify for FMLA leave, or worked for 1,250 hours in the last 12 months before taking your leave of absence.

Also, your employer must have at least 50 employees working within a 75 mile radius of your workplace in order to be legally required to offer you leave.

You might need to negotiate.

Your employer is allowed to ask for advance notice before you take leave so they can figure out when your absence begins and what your leave of absence will look like. That’s perfectly normal.

You keep your health insurance.

By law, your employer has to continue to provide health insurance benefits under any group health plan for the length of your leave under the FMLA.

You must communicate with your employer during leave (and they must communicate with you).

There are guidelines under the FMLA that require both you and your employer to have clear communication while the FMLA is being used.

If anything changes while you’re on leave, your employer must notify you or you must notify your employer. For example, if your doctor lets you know that you can return to work earlier than you had planned, you would let your workplace know. Your employer might also want updates about your leave so they can plan accordingly and know when to expect you back.

You may have to provide medical certification.

If so, you have 15 days to provide it. Any failure to provide that to your employer might result in your FMLA leave being denied.

The certification usually requires specific information such as the contact information for you health care provider, when the health condition began, how long it’s expected to last, any necessary/relevant facts about the condition (like symptoms or treatment needs), and whether you need leave continuously or intermittently.

Your employer can’t refuse your rights or discriminate.

If your employer fits into the FMLA’s criteria, it would be totally illegal for them to refuse you any rights provided by the law. (Of course, that’s with the understanding that you yourself are eligible for FMLA.) They also can’t discriminate against you for trying to take a leave of absence. Discrimination can take a number of forms.

You’re still owed any pre-expected bonuses, raises, or promotions.

If you were eligible for any kind of financial or career benefit before taking leave under the FMLA, your employer isn’t allowed to use your leave as justification for denying you that benefit. On the opposite end, your employer isn’t required to count any of the time you’re on leave towards any benefits you might have accrued while working.

You can’t be demoted.

You’re entitled to come back to the same job, salary, and work life that you had when you left. Your protection under the FMLA guarantees it. However, if you’re not returned to the same exact job, your new position has to at least involve the same kinds of duties and responsibilities, and offer similar pay and general level of skill.

When your leave ends but you’re not ready to return, the reemployment rules change.

At the end of your official FMLA leave, if you’re not able to come back to work, your employer is technically not required to give your position back to you (although there’s always negotiating depending on how well you’ve communicated during your leave of absence).