Delaware Employment Law Blog

FMLA 102, part of the HR Summer School, Back-to-Basics Program, reviews the conditions that entitle an employee to take FMLA-qualified leave.  The Course Materials are attached for your reference. 

I. Generally

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”) was enacted primarily to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families. It entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per 12-month period for:

ª the birth, adoption, or assumption of foster care of a child;

ª caring for an eligible family member with a serious medical condition;

ª caring for their own serious medical condition.

In its simplest form, the FMLA requires covered employers to give leave to covered employees for up to 12-weeks per year under any of the above three conditions. Employers must not only permit the employee to take leave, but also cannot take any retaliatory action as a result of the leave or request for leave.

II. Childbirth, Adoption, and Foster Children

A. Childbirth

Both fathers and mothers of newborns are entitled to take FMLA leave for the birth of a child.

The mother may take leave for childbirth, prenatal care, and to care for the newborn. She also may take FMLA leave for morning sickness and other pregnancy-related conditions that amount to serious health conditions.

The father may take leave for his wife’s serious, pregnancy-related health condition and to care for his newborn child.

If both spouses work for the same employer, the 12-week maximum is calculated in the aggregate. They can split up the leave as they want , and it can overlap, but the total combined leave cannot exceed 12 weeks.

B. Pregnancy-Related

Pregnancy itself is not a serious health condition. But conditions related to pregnancy are automatically serious health conditions under the FMLA if they prevent an employee from doing her job.

The FMLA protects intermittent and long-term leave for:

ª prenatal care and doctor visits;

ª bed rest on a doctor’s or midwife’s orders;

ª morning sickness; and

ª the birth of the child.

If an employee experiences complications from her pregnancy that incapacitate her and amount to a serious health condition, she is eligible for FMLA leave on that basis.

C. Adoption and Foster Care

Employees may use FMLA leave before actually getting the child if they must miss work to attend appointments, such as attorney meetings and court appearances that are required for the placement. Leave may also be taken to pick up the child. Employees do not have to wait for the adoption to become final before taking leave—they are eligible when they first begin caring for the child.

III. Medically Related FMLA Leave

The FMLA allows an employee to take protected leave to care for his or her own serious health condition. it also allows provides for leave to care for certain family members who suffered from a serious health condition.

A. Covered Family Members

Not all “family members” are included for the purposes of the FMLA. Only a spouse, son or daughter, or parent are considered to fall within this definition. A son or daughter can include a biological, adopted, foster, or stepchild, legal ward, or child for whom the employee stands in placer of a apparent. Parents do not include parent-in-laws.

B. Serious Health Condition

One of the biggest, yet unanswered questions with respect to the FMLA is what exactly is a “serious health condition.” Although there is no comprehensive definition that seems to apply in all situations, it is best to think of whether the condition has a serious effect on the individual employee. There are five categories of illnesses, injuries, impairments, and conditions. If the condition fits into one of the five categories, then it is covered by the FMLA.

Inpatient Care: Conditions requiring an overnight stay in a health-care facility (such as a hospital or hospice), automatically qualify as serious medical conditions. FMLA covers the time in the facility and any subsequent period of incapacity or follow-up treatment in connection with the same condition.

Incapacitation for More than Three Days: Conditions that incapacitate the employee for more than three consecutive calendar days are considered serious provided that he or she is under the “continuous treatment” of a health-care provider. “Continuous treatment” can mean

ª Two or more treatments by a health-care provider within the period of incapacitation; or

ª One treatment by a health-care provider that results in a regiment of continuing treatment under the provider’s supervision.

Chronic Serious Health Conditions: These conditions incapacitate a person but don’t last more than three straight days. It requires periodic visits for treatment by a health-care provider and continues over an extended period of time. The employee need not visit a health-care provider for each absence. Examples of chronic conditions could include diabetes, asthma, and epilepsy. Treatment may include prescription medications. Treatment does not include actions that the employee can do without a visit to a health-care provider, such as taking over-the-counter medications, or bed rest.

Long-Term Incapacity: A period of incapacity that is permanent or long-term because of a condition for which treatment may not be effective. For example, Alzheimer’s, stroke, or terminal disease.

Treatment to Prevent Incapacitation or for Restorative Surgery: This category includes absences that are taken to receive multiple treatments by health-care providers for reconstructive surgery after an accident or injury or for a condition that would likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days if left untreated. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments are examples.

Congratulations to Jon Hyman, of the Ohio Employment Law Blog, who celebrated the birth of his son, Donovan Joseph Hyman, earlier this week!!  And, wouldn't you know it, being the dedicated blogger that he is, Jon actually tied the joyous occasion to an employment-related topic--the FMLA!  And, if you can even believe it, earlier this week, my office cheered on William W. Bowser, a partner in our Group, when he managed to pull off the unimaginable--tying together Brangelina and the birth of their twins, to the FMLA!  I kid you not.

So, to read about a real-life FMLA scenario that can match just about any set of facts your employees might throw at you, check out William W. Bowser post, Brad + Angelina + twins = One Great FMLA Hypothetical .  And, for the scoop on intermittent leave under the FMLA, see Jon's post called, Dads Get FMLA, too, (and while you're at it, drop a comment with a congratulations on his exciting arrival!).

And for more about guys and babes (the swaddled type), here are some other interesting posts from the blogosphere:

"Daddy Track" Is a Major Concern for Law School Grads, Study Says (Martha Neil at the ABA Journal)

From winning the bread to spreading peanut butter on it:  Confidence in themselves, along with family support, helps stay-at-home dads get in the groove (Boston Globe)

Some Days It Would Be Better to Be In Management (by the dad who Stays at Home with Triplets

Happy Father's Day to Fathers Across the County (Delaware Employment Law Blog)

HR Summer School is back again. We've finished two ADA courses, so it's time for the FMLA.  This is the first of five FMLA "courses" in the HR Summer School series.  The course outline is attached for your reference. 

I. Covered Employers

The easy answer is that private employers with 50 or more employees are covered by the FMLA. Of course, there’s nothing easy about the FMLA, which is why there is a much more detailed explanation of this seemingly simple statement.

The FMLA covers private employers that have:

• at least 50 employees;
• for at least 20 weeks;
• in the current or preceding calendar year.

A. “Employees”

So who actually counts as an “employee” for purposes of determining whether a business is covered by the FMLA?

• Full- and part-time employees
• Temporary employees, even if you don’t pay them.
• Employee’s located at all work sites within 75 miles.
• Employees with no regular office are assigned to the office to which they ordinarily report.
• Employees “acquired” as part of the sale of a business.

The last type of employee applies only to “successor employers.” If you’ve acquired or taken over all or part of a business that was covered by the FMLA, you are considered a successor employer and may have to grant FMLA leave to certain employees even if the part of the business you’re operating has fewer than 50 workers. You must honor the leave request of any employee who had provided notice to the previous employers and you must follow the FMLA’s rules on maintaining benefits and reinstating employees who were on leave when you acquired the business.

B. Relevant Time Period

The FMLA covers only employers with 50 or more employees (as defined above). But what about employers who fluctuate just around 50 employees, or who had 50 employees but recently reduced staff? To determine the number of employees for FMLA purposes, employers can’t simply look to one specific date on the calendar, such as the first or last day of the year. A more complicated evaluation is required.

The FMLA applies, even if the employer does not currently have 50 employees, where the employer had 50 or more employees for at least 20 weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. This requires the employer to look at both years, week by week. Any week in which there were 50 or more employees on each working day (usually Monday through Friday), will count towards the 20-week minimum.

II. Covered Employees

Once an organization determines that it is covered by the FMLA and bound by its provisions, it will next need to determine whether the specific individual requesting leave is a covered employee.

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must:

• be employed by the employer for at least 12 months; and
• work at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave would start.

The 12 months of employment do not have to be consecutive. And the 1,250 hour requirement must be satisfied by the time the employee would take the leave—not at the time the employee requests the leave.

It's official. The "Brangelina" clan, headed by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has grown by two. And what's the first thing that comes to mind?  The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), of course!  Ok, maybe not. 

The (Somewhat Complicated) Family Tree

The proud parents have announced that Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon were born on Sunday in a hospital in the South of France.  The unmarried Pitt and Jolie have four other children.  Jolie adopted Maddox in 2002 and Zaharah in 2005.  Pitt adopted the two in January 2006, which was followed by the birth of the couple's first child together, Shiloh who was born in Nambia in 2006.  The couple adopted Pax in 2007. 

It's safe to say that this family is a long way from what was once considered a traditional family unit.  What if Brad or Jolie were not motion-picture superstars but, instead, were your employees?  How would the FMLA be applied to situations occurring in their family?

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one of the most complicated employment laws for HR professionals to administer. It's hard enough to determine whether the Act applies to an employee who requests leave because of his own serious health condition. It can be even more challenging when leave is requested to care for a new or sick family member.

ABCs of the FMLA

The FMLA generally provides that certain employers (companies that employ 50 or more workers) must allow an employee who has worked at least 12 months and 1,250 hours to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for one of the following the birth of a child or to take care of the newborn; placement of a child for adoption or foster care; or to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.

Rock-a-Bye Baby

Both male and female employees may take leave for the birth and care of a newborn child. This type of leave has nothing to do with the medical condition of the newborn or the mother. As a result, Brad and Angelina are simply entitled to take leave as a result of the birth of the twins.

There are only three real limitations to this type of leave. First, the leave must be taken within a year of the child's birth. Second, it must be taken in a single block of full days off. In other words, Brad can't take leave three weeks after the birth of the child and then wait several months to take the remaining nine weeks. Similarly, this type of leave can't be taken intermittently or for partial days unless you agree to that arrangement. And finally, if Brad and Angelina both worked for you, they are entitled to a total of 12 weeks jointly.

The FMLA also requires you to grant leave when a child is placed with your employee for adoption or foster care. According to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations, FMLA leave may be used before the employee actually gets the child. She may take FMLA leave to attend meetings with an attorney, doctor's visits, and court appearances or to fly out of the country to pick up the child. Thus, Brad and Angelina could have taken FMLA leave off to fly to Cambodia, Vietnam, or Ethiopia in connection with the adoption of Maddox, Pax and Zahara.

Are You My Mother?

The FMLA allows employees to take unpaid leave to care for certain family members who are suffering from a "serious health condition." The law severely restricts the family members for whom leave can be taken, however. An employee can take leave "to care for" his spouse, son or daughter, or parent, but not for siblings, grandparents, or grandchildren. While it might seem that determining whether leave must be granted for a family member is straightforward, the definitions of "spouse," "child," and "parent" can make figuring out whether leave is required harder than it looks.

First, a "spouse" is either a husband or wife defined by the law of the state where the employee resides. That's a particular challenge for Delaware employers that have employees living in Pennsylvania. That state recognizes "common-law marriage," while Delaware doesn't. As a result, Brad could not take FMLA leave to care for Angelina if they lived in Delaware, but might if they lived in Pennsylvania and their relationship constituted a "common-law marriage."

The regulations define "child" as either a biological child, an adopted child, a foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child for whom the employee is standing in loco parentis (that's Latin for "in place of the parents"). In other words, the employee must have day-to-day responsibility for taking care of and financially supporting the child. The child must also generally be under 18 or incapable of caring for herself because of a mental or physical disability. All the Brangelina kids meet this definition one way or another.

The FMLA regulations define "parent" to include the employee's biological parent or the person who stood in loco parentis to him when he was younger. As a result, an employee can have more than two "parents" for FMLA purposes. As a result, the adopted kids might someday be eligible to take care of Brad and Angelina, but also their biological parents.

For more information on the basis of FMLA and what it requires, check in at HR Summer School for FMLA 101.

The Delaware Employment Law Blog will be posting a series of "Back-to-Basics" articles over the next couple of months.  Each class in the series will focus on the basics of the covered topic.  The posts can be printed and assembled for a handy reference.

After much thought, we've selected the topics that we'll cover.  We've decided to tackle what we think are the Top 3 Toughest Topics in Employment Law, the ADA, the FMLA, and the FLSA.  These are the statutes that give our clients the biggest headaches but we're going to try to reduce the agony with the Back-to-Basic series. 

There will be several mini-topics in each course.  Generally, we expect the "schedule" to look something like this:

ADA 101

• 101  Who Is Covered?
• 102  What Does the ADA Require?
• 103  What Is a "Reasonable Accommodation"?
• 104  What Certification Can I Require?
• 105  Special Disciplinary Problems and Abuses

FMLA 101

• 101  Who Is Covered?
• 102  What Is a "Serious Medical Condition"?
• 103  Do I Have to Act If I Think an Employee May Qualify for FMLA Leave?
• 104  How Do I Handle Intermittent Leave?
• 105  Special Disciplinary Problems and Abuses

FLSA 101

• 101  What Does the FLSA Actually Cover?
• 102  What Is the Difference Between Exempt and Nonexempt?
• 103  What Types of Exemptions Are There?
• 104  How Do I Determine If My Employees Are Exempt?
• 105  Special Disciplinary Problems and Abuses

Get those pencils sharpened and we'll see you in class!

The FMLA's newly proposed regulations are a serious attempt to address employer concerns and have already drawn criticism from unions and employee advocates. Through the new regulations, the Department of Labor (DOL), has addressed some of the most complained-of provisions, but not all.

The newly proposed regulations with contain provisions that:

• Fine-tune procedures regarding required notices, medical and fitness-for-duty certifications, and designation of leave

• Clarify the eligibility requirements for employees who are jointly employed

• Clarify when an employee’s inability to work overtime exhausts FMLA leave

• Establish that light duty does not exhaust FMLA leave

• Allow employers to deny bonuses (such as perfect attendance or hours worked awards) to employees who don’t qualify for them because they took FMLA leave

• Allow employers to require employees to comply with the terms and conditions of their paid leave policies in order to substitute paid leave for FMLA leave

• Allow employees and employers to voluntarily settle claims of past FMLA violations

• Provide very minimal clarification of the definition of a "serious health condition"

This FMLA Update briefly reviews the second new type of FMLA leave offered to servicemembers and their families, Military-Caregiver Leave.

The two new FMLA leave types are designed to protect members of the Armed Forces and their families. Both types of leave enable a family member of a servicemember to take protected leave in two circumstances. The first, Active Duty Leave, was discussed in an earlier post. The second, is known as Military-Caregiver Leave. This new protection grants time off to the family member to care for a related servicemember who is ill or injured due to active duty.

• Employees may take an unprecedented 26 weeks of FMLA leave when a spouse, parent, child, or other blood relative for whom they are "next of kin" incurs a serious injury or illness on active duty in the Armed Forces.

• This 26 week total includes regular FMLA leave.

• Leave may be taken intermittently, but must be completed in a 12-month period.

• This is a one-time leave entitlement.

• "Next of kin" is an entirely new category of family member; it applies only to this specific type of leave.

• "Serious injury or illness" is much broader than the typical serious health condition; it applies only to this specific type of leave. Your speaker will provide a detailed definition.

• As with other FMLA leave, employers may require employees to take this type of leave concurrently with paid leave such as vacation, personal, or sick leave.

• Employers may require certification of servicemember’s health condition.

Human Resource professionals see the Family & Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") as a major compliance challenge. And it just never seems to get easier. Lately, the FMLA is back in the news. The Act has seen more legislative and regulatory action in the past few months than it has during the previous ten years.

On January 28, 2007, Congress expanded the scope of the Act to include two new types of military leave for families of servicemembers. Next, on February 11, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor released its long-awaited proposed revisions to the FMLA regulations.

William W. Bowser and Scott Holt will be addressing these important changes at the May 13 meeting of the Delaware Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Cavalier Country Club. Our presentation will focus on what you need to do now in response to these changes.

Online Registration for the meeting is available here. Directions to the event are available here.

The FMLA now provides two completely new categories of leave for employees who are related to a servicemember who is called to active duty or injured in the military.

The first type of leave is triggered when the employee's relative is called to active duty. It is designed to enable servicemembers' family to get FMLA time off to make the arrangements necessary for the servicemember's departure. Below is a short summary of the need-to-know points for this first type of new FMLA leave.

Active-Duty Leave:

• Covers employees who have a spouse, parent, or child who is on or has been called to active duty in the Armed Forces. These workers may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave when they experience "any qualifying exigency." While “qualifying exigency" is yet to be defined by DOL, but it probably will include -- at a minimum -- covering necessary family and childcare responsibilities of the servicemember when that family member is called to active duty.

• Employees who request this type of leave are subject to most of the same requirements as other forms of FMLA leave, including employee eligibility and notice requirements, maintenance of benefits, and job reinstatement.

• Employers may require certification that the employee’s family member is on active military duty in accordance with guidance to be provided by the Secretary of Labor.

• Employers should grant these leave requests liberally until DOL defines the term "qualifying exigency".

Pregnant Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon reviews troops in Madrid

* * * *
Pregnancy discrimination is making international headlines. Our friend and fellow Employers Counsel Network editor, John Phillips, posted an interesting article today on his blog, titled, "Questions About Pregnancy," regarding pregnancy discrimination and Spain’s pregnant defense minister.

See my earlier post, “More Than Hollywood Noticing Baby Bump” regarding the alarming increase in pregnancy discrimination claims.

What exactly are your obligations to a pregnant employee?

Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), you're prohibited from treating pregnant employees differently than other employees with temporary restrictions. For example, if a pregnant employee is restricted from lifting more than 20 pounds during her last trimester, you must treat her the same as a male employee who suffered a back injury and was temporarily unable to lift the same amount.

The PDA does not require you to make special accommodations like the Americans with Disabilities Act does. It only requires you to treat pregnant employees the same as you would treat nonpregnant employees with temporary restrictions.

What can you do to avoid violating the PDA?

Here are some basic guidelines:

• Don't discuss an applicant's pregnancy with her at the employment interview or base your hiring decisions on her pregnancy or absences that may be caused by pregnancy.

• When an employee informs you that she's pregnant, congratulate her. Don't start interrogating her about the leave she will need or make any other comments about how her pregnancy might affect her job.

• Provide optional alternative jobs if the pregnant employee's current position could be harmful to her fetus. Be aware, however, that the decision to change duties is hers, not yours.

• If a pregnant employee is unable to perform her job or requests light duty, treat her like you would any other employee in a similar situation.

• If you take any performance-related disciplinary actions during an employee's pregnancy or maternity leave, do so cautiously! Make sure to document your actions, providing legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the action.

Of course, dealing with pregnant employees may implicate other employment laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. I will be presenting When FMLA and Pregnancy Leave Collide: How to Avoid Costly Discrimination Claims in Las Vegas and Nashville, TN at the upcoming Advanced Employment Issues Symposium. Click here for more details about the Symposiums.

Family and Medical Leave has hit New Jersey employers. The N.J. Senate passed legislation that would make the Garden State only the third state (after California and Washington) with state-sponsored paid family and medical leave. Governor Corzine said he intends to sign the bill, so employers should start preparing now.

The New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, the state agency charged with enforcing the bill, has posted a helpful Q&A on the NJ FMLA on its website.

The criteria for employee coverage will be the same as for coverage under the state’s unemployment compensation law. Employers are covered if they are covered under the New Jersey Temporary Disability Benefits law, that is, if they have one or more employees who earned at least $1,000 in the current or preceding calendar year. Employees will be entitled to benefits in the amount of two-thirds of their weekly pay, up to $524 per week, for up to six weeks in any 12-month period.

Benefits are payable for time off taken to care for a seriously ill family member, or in connection with childbirth or adoption. Benefits will be funded by an additional tax on employees of about $.48 per employee per week, beginning on January 1, 2009. Benefits will begin to be available on July 1, 2009.

The law does not include any job restoration guarantees, and provides that employers with fewer than 50 employees (who are not covered by the federal FMLA) will not be liable to a discharged employee.

Our Annual Seminar for Employers was held today at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. The attendance at the seminar was our best ever, with more than 130 of Delaware's best human resource professionals, labor relations specialists, senior managers, and small business owners.

Our many thanks to The Honorable Mary Pat Thynge, who spoke candidly about the federal mediation process. Her comments were direct and insightful for everyone, including for the attorneys!

Another thanks to all of the attendees who completed and submitted a survey at the end of the day. We're looking forward to reviewing your comments. Our objective is to make the seminar as effective and enjoyable as possible. Your opinion really tells us what we can do to better to maximize the client experience. We are especially interested to learn what topics most interest you for future seminars. If you were in attendance today but did not have an opportunity to submit an evaluation, just let us know and we'll send you one that can be completed and returned electronically--no stamp necessary!

Again, thank you to all of our clients, colleagues, and new friends, who gave us your attention and participation for a very full day on a variety of employment-law topics.

Now that President Bush has signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which amends the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employers must update their FMLA postings.

Under the FMLA, all covered employers are required to display and keep displayed a poster prepared by the Department of Labor summarizing the major provisions of The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and telling employees how to file a complaint. The poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place where employees and applicants for employment can see it. A poster must be displayed at all locations even if there are no eligible employees.

A copy of the standard FMLA poster prepared by the Department (WH 1420) is available for posting in the workplace at the DOL's website. The poster is also available in Spanish.

The DOL has also published a single-page insert poster, which includes the NDAA amendment. The insert is also available at the DOL's website. It's available here for download and use.

F-M-L-A.

Four little letters that strike terror in the hearts of HR Managers around the country. And it's not for want of trying. Employers want to comply--they really do. But the FMLA doesn't make it easy. Enacted with good intentions, the statute and its enforcement regulations have become one of the biggest employer complaints. Business groups have been calling for a substantial revision of the "FMLA Regs" for some time. The Regs have made compliance cumbersome and difficult to truly understand. Unfortunately, they have also enabled the statute to be grossly misused by not-so-well-intended employees.

On February 8th, the Department of Labor took a major step towards an answer to the cries of employers and business-protection organizations by publishing new proposed regulations. Getting here has been a long time in the making. In 1996 and again in 2001, the DOL published studies on how the FMLA was being administered. Several decisions from the Supreme Court and countless lower court rulings have also had a great impact on how the Regs have been interpreted. And, in 2006, the DOL posted a Request for Information (RFI), in response to which it received 15,000 public comments, which were summarized in the DOL's June 2007 Report on the RFI.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is intended to be the culmination of these sources of comment and feedback.

At this stage of the rulemaking process, the proposed Regs are open for comment until April 11, 2008. Comments can be made online through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. After the commenting period closes, the DOL will review the comments and, at some point, publish new regulations.

Employers are encouraged to post their comments to the proposed regs as we work towards a clarified and improved set of FMLA rules.