The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was created in 1993 to help people balance work demands with their personal and family needs. FMLA also ensures that you can take time off, with benefits, when a disability or serious illness prevents you from working.
If you're eligible for FMLA, it can provide you with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for:
You may also be eligible for up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period to care for a covered military member with a serious injury or illness.
Tenure and tenure-track faculty (UFA): please refer to your collective bargaining agreement on extensions of the Tenure Probationary Period.
To be eligible for FMLA, you must:
Please note the following:
You can use applicable sick and vacation leave before starting unpaid leave. Your health insurance and other benefits will be maintained during FMLA leave, but you remain responsible for premium contributions or payroll deduction amount.
If you're a faculty member, please review the information regarding extension of the tenure probationary period for bargaining unit members, which can be found in Article 29.9 of the UFA bargaining agreement (PDF).
You must:
Under FMLA, you can take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for your own or an immediate family member's serious health condition. This means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider.
As you read about the health conditions that fall under FMLA, you'll see the term "incapacity." Incapacity means the inability to work, attend school or perform daily activities due to the health condition, or treatment or recovery from it.
If the health condition requires an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice or residential medical care facility, it's considered a serious health condition under FMLA. This includes any period of incapacity or subsequent treatment in connection with such care.
If the health condition requires continuing treatment, it may be considered a serious health condition under FMLA. Continuing treatment refers to more than three consecutive calendar days of incapacity. The first visit to the health care provider must be within seven days of the first day of incapacity. The condition must also involve one of the following:
Continuing treatment can also refer to any period of incapacity due to:
In addition, continuing treatment refers to any period of absence to receive multiple treatments by a health care provider for:
Under FMLA, you can take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for a qualifying exigency, or urgent situation, related to the deployment of your parent, child or spouse. A certification form is required. The leave does not apply to enlistments.
Examples of qualifying exigencies include:
Under FMLA, you can take up to 26 workweeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered military member with a serious injury or illness. Please note the following: