Q: My company employs 48 persons. Am I required to offer any unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act?
A: No. Only companies that employ 50 or more persons are so required. If your company grows to 50 or more employees in the future, it will then come under the provisions of the Act.
Q: For what reasons am I required to offer unpaid leave?
A: Companies must offer up to 12 weeks unpaid leave for the following reasons:
1. To allow the employee to care for a close family member who is suffering from a 'serious health condition.'
2. If the employee's own serious health condition makes him or her unable to perform the job.
3. For childbirth. Leave must be offered to new mothers and to new fathers who request it for childbirth and/or to care for the child.
4. For the care of an adopted or foster child when the child enters the employee's home.
Q: How can I be sure an employee's request for leave is warranted under the terms of the Act?
A: The employee is required to submit documentation from the health care provider treating the employee or family member, from the adoption agency, or from social services (in the case of a foster child). In some cases, employers may require further opinions from physicians they select, or periodic reports from an employee on leave.
Q: Must each leave last 12 weeks?
A: No. You are required only to offer 'up to' 12 weeks. If the employee takes less than 12 weeks at one time, however, you may be required to offer further leave up to a total of 12 weeks within the one-year period-for a relapse of an illness or for a later birth or adoption of a child, for instance. You are not required to offer more than a total of 12 weeks per year, however.
Q: Does the Act require me to pay my employees for any of the 12 weeks leave I must offer?
A: No, but see the next question.
Q: If I already offer some paid leave for certain circumstances, must I continue to pay employees for such leave?
A: Yes. The provisions of the Act do not supersede existing benefits to your employees. However, your company is not required to offer any more in terms of paid leave than it already does.
Q: I'm afraid my business would be seriously damaged if I had to give some of my higher-level employees such leave. Do I have any recourse?
A: You may. The Act provides exemptions for certain highly compensated employees whose leave would result in 'substantial and grievous economic injury' to the business' operations. Under the provisions of the Act, you may deny such an employee a request for leave.
Q: I have a married couple working for me. Must I offer both husband and wife up to 12 weeks leave for the same circumstances?
A: Under the terms of the Act, the employer of a married couple is required to offer only up to 12 weeks paid leave for both husband and wife under the same circumstances. However, the person who did not already take the 12 weeks of leave could request such leave for another reason.
Q: Must I offer an employee exactly the same job at exactly the same pay when he or she returns from leave?
A: Yes and no. You must offer the employee an 'equivalent position' after leave, but not necessarily the very same job. You must, however, offer the same benefits, pay, and other terms of employment the employee received before the leave began.
Q: Who decides what an 'equivalent position' is?
A: The employer decides. However, an employee may appeal the employer's decision under the terms of the Act.
Q: What if an employee requests 12 weeks leave every year-must I grant it?
A: Yes, if the employee can provide documentation of need.
Q: Can an employee come into my office with a request for leave and expect it to begin the next day? In other words, am I allowed to require a certain amount of notice?
A: If the purpose of the leave is 'foreseeable,' the Act says, the employer can require up to 30 days' notice before leave begins; otherwise, the employee must give 'practicable' notice. Again, the courts undoubtedly will be called upon to decide exactly what these words mean in contentious cases.
Q: Even though employers do not have to offer paid leave, this sounds like an expensive proposition. Has anyone estimated what this is going to cost?
A: Yes, but not since 1989. The Government Accounting Office estimated that in 1989 dollars it will cost employers $7.10 per worker per year, which works out to $355 for every 50 employees.