Family Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
entitles a covered employee to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month
period for the birth or adoption of a child, or the "serious health
condition" of the employee or the employee's child, spouse, or parent.
To protect this right, the FMLA prohibits an employer from interfering
with an employee's attempt to exercise his leave right or retaliating
against an employee for opposing practices made unlawful under the FMLA.
If an employer engages in these prohibited acts, the FMLA allows any one
or more employees to bring suit for damages.
This act covers employees who have worked for a covered employer for
at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12-month
period. A covered employer is any person engaged in commerce or in any
industry or activity affecting commerce who employs 50 or more employees
for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the
current or preceding calendar year.
The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles employees to retain any employer-paid
health benefits while using FMLA-protected leave. Upon return from FMLA
leave, an employee must be restored to the employee's original job, or
to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and
conditions of employment.
In addition, an employee's use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss
of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to
before using FMLA leave, nor be counted against the employee under a no
fault attendance policy.
FMLA VIOLATIONS
If you feel your rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act have been
violated, employees have the choice of filing, or having another person
file on his or her behalf, a complaint with the Secretary of Labor, or
filing a private lawsuit.
If the employee files a private lawsuit, it must be filed within two years
after the last action which the employee contends was in violation of
the Act, or three years if the violation was willful.
If an employer has violated one or more provisions of FMLA, and if justified
by the facts of a particular case, an employee may receive one or more
of the following: wages, employment benefits, or other compensation denied
or lost to such employee by reason of the violation; or, where no such
tangible loss has occurred, such as when FMLA leave was unlawfully denied,
any actual monetary loss sustained by the employee as a direct result
of the violation, such as the cost of providing care, up to a sum equal
to 12 weeks of wages for the employee.
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