Family and Medical Leave

It had become something of an unwritten tradition for employers to give employees time off (either paid or unpaid) to handle family sicknesses, births, adoptions, and medical emergencies. That is, until the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

For certain employers, family leave is mandated under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Employers with 50 or more employees are subject to this law. In a nutshell, it requires that covered employers allow employees to take the equivalent of 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year due either to a birth or adoption of a child, or to attend to the serious health condition of an immediate family member or to the employee's own serious health condition.

What is a serious health condition? A serious health condition under the FMLA is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care (an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility, including any period of incapacity or any subsequent treatment in connection with the inpatient care or continuing care by a health care provider that includes one or more of the following:

• A period of incapacity of more than three consecutive days.
• Any period of incapacity due to pregnancy or for prenatal care.
• Any period of incapacity or treatment due to a chronic serious health condition.
• A period of incapacity that is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective.
• Any period of absence to receive multiple treatments by a health care provider, including conditions that are not currently incapacitating but would be if left untreated.

The FMLA also requires that after the 12 weeks of unpaid leave, you must reinstate the employee in the same job or an equivalent one. Note that the leave does not have to be taken all at once; in some instances family leave can be taken one day at a time.

Military family leave. As part of the FMLA, employers with 50 or more employees must allow up to 26 weeks of leave for family members of certain injured military personnel to care for service members injured in combat. Under qualifying exigencies, employers may also be required to allow 12 weeks of leave for the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of a service member who is on active duty or who has been notified of a pending call or order to return to active duty. Eligibility for military family leave due to qualifying exigencies related to deployment require that a service member be deployed to a foreign country.

Qualifying exigencies include:

• short-notice deployment
• military events and related activities
• childcare and school activities
• financial and legal arrangements
• counseling
• rest and recuperation
• post-deployment activities
• additional activities where the employer and employee agree to the leave

Military family leave entitlements and procedures are incorporated into non-military family leave provisions wherever feasible.

State Law

While the small size of your business may exclude you from having to comply with federal family leave laws, several states have family or medical leave laws that place requirements on private employers with fewer than 50 employees. See this Department of Labor site for further current information. If you are in one of these states, make sure that you understand and comply with the requirements of your state's family leave laws.

Of course, if you're not be large enough to be required to provide medical or family leave under a state or federal law, you may choose to give employees some type of leave for these situations. You can offer employees vacation time or personal time.