Eligibility
True or False: All employees are eligible for FMLA
False
An employee may request FMLA to care for a serious health condition for which relatives?
A spouse, as defined in the state the individual was married.
A child under the age of 18. The child means a biological child, adopted or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward
Parent - this does not include parents-in-law
An employer may request that a employee requesting FMLA leave have a Certification completed by a health care provider. How long must the employee be given to return the certification before denying FMLA leave
The employee must provide a completed certification within 15 calendar days, unless unusual circumstances occur.
True or False
An employee on FMLA will lose his medical benefits during the period he is out of work
False. The employer MUST maintain the employee's existing coverage under any group health plan on the same basis as coverage is provided to an employee who is not on leave.
How long does an employee have to work with his employer before he/she is entitled to FML?
At least 12 months as of the date his leave is to begin.
Note: the 12 months does not need to be consecutive
True or False: Upon the birth of a child only the mother qualifies for FMLA.
False. The father is also entitled to FMLA
After submitting completed certification can an employer ever request a 2nd opinion
Yes. Only if the employer has received a completed certification but has a reason to doubt that it is valid the employee may be asked to obtain a 2nd opinion at the employer's expense.
An employee is out on an FMLA leave of absence. He is planning a vacation for later in the year and requests that his FMLA not be paid with vacation or personal hours. Does the employer need to agree to this?
No. The employer may require the employee to substitute accrued paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave. If the employer chooses this option they must inform the employee at the time of request of this policy on the Rights and Responsibilities Notice.
An employee is eligible for FML after working how many hours in the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave?
A minimum of 1,250 hours.
Note: Only actual time worked and overtime is counted. Time not actually worked does not get counted. This includes all types of paid time off, holidays or periods of furlough.
DAILY DOUBLE!!!!
An employee may take FMLA for their own SERIOUS health condition. How is SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION defined
An illness, injury,impairment or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care OR continuing treatment by a health care provider.
If both the child's father and mother are employed by the same company how much total leave is the couple allowed to take
12 weeks
True or False:
An employee who is on Workers' Compensation can also be on an FMLA leave
True. FMLA can run concurrently with Workers' Compensation provided the Workers' Compensation absence is due to an FMLA qualifying serious health condition and the employer properly notifies the employee the leave will be counted as FMLA
True or False: The employee must specifically request FMLA to be entitled to it.
False.
Under what provision may an employee take a total of 26 weeks of leave during a 12 month period
Military Caregiver Leave
Allows the spouse, child, parent or next of kin to care for a service-member with a serious injury or illness.
DAILY DOUBLE!!!!
After the employer receives the completed certification the employee's health care provider can only be contacted for these 2 reasons. What are they?
Authentication - Providing the health care provider with a copy of the certification to confirm that the form was completed by the caregiver who signed the document.
Clarification - Contacting the health care provider to understand the handwriting on the form or to understand the meaning of the response.
Can FMLA leave be considered in cases of promotion, performance or raises.
No.
How many weeks of FMLA is an employee entitled to in a 12 month period of time.
12 weeks
An employee must be incapacitated for how many days before qualifying for FMLA
Three full days
Note: Incapacity is not determined by missed days of work.
An employee is not feeling well. They go to their doctor and are told they have the flu. The health care provider tells them to go home; rest, drink plenty of liquids and take over the counter medicine for fever. They are told not to return to work for 5 days. Should this incident be approved as FMLA
No. The employee has not met the requirements for incapacity plus treatment. While the employee has met the incapacity portion of the requirement they have not met the treatment requirement.
They would need to have 2 or more visits with the health care provider within 30 days of the incapacity OR one visit within 7 days of the incapacity and continuing treatment such as antibiotics.
Gina, the Office Manager was out on an FMLA leave of absence. While she was on leave Mary, the HR Assistant on 2nd shift was transferred to cover Gina's position while she was out on leave. Gina's manager was so pleased with Mary's work that he asked if Mary could be kept in this position. Gina would be put in Mary's position with no cut in pay when she returned. Is this legal?
No. The employee must be restored to the same job that they held when their leave began or to an "equivalent job". While an employee is not guaranteed the actual job they held prior to the leave the new job must be virtually identical in terms of pay, benefits and other employment terms and conditions including shift and location worked.