Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy

Hofstra University is committed to providing eligible employees with leave afforded under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides employees with job protection of unpaid leave for up to 12 workweeks in any 12 month period under the following qualifying circumstances: 1) employee's serious health condition, 2) birth, adoption, or placement of a child with the employee for foster care and to care for the newborn child, 3) employee is needed to care for a family member (i.e., child, spouse of parent with a serious health condition), or 4) incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care or childbirth.

Eligibility

To be eligible for FMLA leave under the following circumstances, an employee must have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months and for a total of 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. If an employee is eligible for FMLA leave, accumulated annual leave time must be used. FMLA leave commences at the same time any other Hofstra leave commences, regardless of whether leave taken is paid or unpaid, and the two run concurrently. New York State Disability, Workers' Compensation and sick or medical leave runs concurrently with FMLA leave.

Employee Responsibilities

To apply for FMLA leave, an employee must provide Hofstra with at least 30 days advance notice before FMLA leave is to begin. Where such notice is not possible, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable (i.e. one to two business days following the employee learning about the need to take leave). All forms, including the Family Medical Leave Request form and Certification of Health Care Provider form must be submitted within 15 days of FMLA notice in order for the leave to be treated as authorized under the FMLA. The failure to provide these forms will result in the denial of FMLA leave. Forms with missing, incomplete, or unclear information will not be accepted.

All forms are available in the Office of Human Resources and on Hofstra's website.

Protection of Health Insurance Benefits

While on FMLA leave, an employee's health insurance coverage will be maintained in the same manner as during the employee's active employment status. Employees are responsible for paying their share of health insurance premiums while on leave. In some instances, Hofstra may recover premiums it paid to maintain health coverage for an employee who fails to return to work from FMLA leave.

Return to Work

Upon returning from leave, the employees who take FMLA leave for a serious health condition must submit a fitness-for-duty certification, stating that they can work. Employees who do not provide this certification will not be permitted to return to work. Employees returning from FMLA leave will be restored to the employee's original job, or to an equivalent job. If the employee requesting FMLA leave is a "key employee," restoration to employment may be denied following FMLA leave on the grounds that such restoration will cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the University.

Military Family Leave

The FMLA also provides job protection of unpaid leave for up to a total of 26 workweeks of leave during a 12-month period for an eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered service member in the Armed Forces. This particular leave will only be available during a single 12 month period. Those employees taking FMLA leave for covered service members must provide the Office of Human Resources with sufficient proof of eligibility for this leave and the requisite certification issued by a health care provider stating that the service member is being cared for by the employee.

In addition, eligible employees with a spouse, son, daughter, or parent on active duty or call to active duty status in the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation may use their 12-week leave entitlement to address certain qualifying exigencies (i.e. short notice deployment; attending certain military events, etc). Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military Family must be submitted to Human Resources to qualify for the leave entitlement.

For more information on FMLA leave, please contact the Office of Human Resources or go to http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/finalrule/fmlaposter.pdf for the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family Medical Leave Act notice.

Last revised: January 13, 2009