labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Already in 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor has implemented the most sweeping changes to the FMLA or federal Family and Medical Leave Act in its 15-year history.

 

These changes went into effect on January 16, 2009. The complete changes are complex, but here is the crucial information that employers need to know.

 

Required and Optional Paperwork

 

First, and perhaps most importantly, employers are required to give a Notice of Eligibility to any employee when it is believed that the employee may have an FMLA-qualifying absence. The employee does not have to request FMLA or mention the words FMLA. It is the employer’s duty to make the employee aware of available unpaid leave by giving the employee this notice without being asked.

 

The new rules change notice and certification requirements under FMLA. The new regulations attempt to clarify communications and information collection between the employer and employee by introducing two new optional medical certification forms. One form is for the employee’s serious health condition. The other is for the serious health condition of a family member. Both forms are optional, but employers are urged to use them. They replace the single optional form used in the past, the WH-380.

 

Once the employee’s absence has been determined to be protected under the FMLA, the employer is required to give the employee a Designation Notice. No substitute is available or this document.

 

Complete FMLA compliance kits are available at www.laborlawcenter.com.

 

As nearly every employer knows, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 permits employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. Employees may take leave for their own serious health condition, to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or to bond with a newborn, a newly adopted child or a new foster child under the age of 18. Baby bonding leave must be taken within 12 months of the qualifying even. For newborns, that is within 12 months of the infant’s birth.  

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