Federal Family and Medical Leave Act

• The federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows eligible workers to take up to 12 weeks per year of leave without fear of losing their jobs. You must meet several conditions to be eligible for FMLA leave. First, your employers must be a covered employer. FMLA applies only to employers with 50 or more employees, as well as governments and public schools. In addition, your employer must employ at least 50 people at the location where you work or within 75 miles of that location. For example, if your employer has 100 employees nationwide, but only 25 employees in your state, you are not eligible to take federal FMLA leave. Second, you must be an eligible employee. To be eligible, you must have been working for your current employer for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours the year before you wish to take leave.
  
  

Circumstances Protected by FMLA

• The federal FMLA sets out the circumstances in which you can take covered leave. These include the birth or adoption of a child, the care of a child, spouse, or parent with a serious medical condition, or the employee's own serious medical condition. If you wish to take leave for other reasons, including to care for non-immediate family members or for someone unrelated to you, it is not protected by FMLA. Your employer can require you to submit certification from a doctor or other health care provider that the reason for the leave is a serious medical condition.
  
  

Benefits and Returning to Work

• While leave is generally unpaid after you've used up your paid leave, your health insurance and most other benefits remain active. Your employer may not cancel your health insurance benefits during your leave as long as you continue to pay any premiums due.
  
  When your leave is up, your employer generally must give you your old job back. Alternatively, if that job is unavailable, your employer must place you in an equivalent position; that is, one with pay, benefits, and other employment conditions that are virtually identical to your previous position.
  
  

State Family and Medical Leave Acts

• Several states and the District of Columbia also have family and medical leave laws. Theses states are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. State laws generally expand eligibility requirements or grant longer periods of leave. For example, Connecticut allows you to take up to 16 weeks of leave in any two-year period. The District of Columbia law covers employers with only 20 employees, instead of the federal 50 employee minimum, and grants up to 16 weeks of leave in a 24-month period. California law requires paid leave in some circumstances.
  
  

Unprotected Leaves of Absence

• If your FMLA-protected leave of absence extends beyond 12 weeks a year, even by one day, your employer may fire you. In addition, if the reason for your absence is not protected, such as to care for a friend, grandparent, or in-law, your employer may fire you regardless of how little unpaid leave you take.