Paid Time Off and FMLA: Guidelines for employers

Confused about how to use accrued paid leave? Here’s some help

As you know, FMLA guidelines require covered employers to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for medical emergencies, family health crises, or the birth or adoption of a child.

But what if an FMLA-eligible employee has accrued paid leave available – vacation days, sick days or personal days, for example? Here’s a Q&A to help you wend your way through FMLA regulatory thickets:

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How do accrued vacation days work with the FMLA guidelines for unpaid leave?

FMLA guidelines allow employers to require employees to use up paid leave first, so that the paid and unpaid leave run concurrently.

Example: If an eligible worker with one week of accrued paid vacation time requests FMLA leave, the employer would pay for one week of his leave.

Who decides whether an employee will use accrued paid vacation days?

Either employer or employee. The employer may require it or the worker may elect to use accrued vacation days for all or part of the 12-week leave.

A lot of firms choose to make this a requirement because it minimizes employees’ time away from the job.

For example, say you don’t make it a requirement, and a worker with two weeks of accrued paid vacation requests 12 weeks of FMLA leave.

Upon his return from leave he will still have two weeks of paid vacation time owed to him.

But if you make it a requirement, upon his return, he will have been paid for two of his 12 weeks of leave and he’ll have no remaining paid vacation days available.

When may employees decide to use accrued vacation or personal days during FMLA leave?

According to FMLA guidelines, accrued vacation or personal days may be used at any time during the FMLA leave. Employers may not restrict how this time is used.

According to FMLA guidelines, may employees use paid sick leave during FMLA leave?

Yes, depending on your sick-day policy.

If your policy allows employees to apply paid sick days only for their own illnesses, then they may not use their paid sick days to care for someone else while on FMLA leave. In that case, those days would be regular unpaid FMLA leave.

What do FMLA guidelines say about employees on paid leave covered by workers’ comp or short-term disability?

FMLA provisions that allow for the substitution of paid leave do not apply if a worker is receiving compensation through such a plan, even if it’s to make up the difference between what workers comp or STD pays and the worker’s regular pay.

Under FMLA guidelines, however, employers can and should count this paid leave against the employee’s 12-week entitlement.

What do FMLA guidelines say about an employer’s obligations to notify workers about the use of paid time off during FMLA leave?

If you provide workers an employee handbook with your firm’s policies, you must include your paid time off/FMLA guidelines in it.

And when an employee requests FMLA leave, you must provide him a separate, written notice of the policy.

If you fail to provide notice, the employee may be entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA leave plus any eligible paid time off accrued.

Tagged as: FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), FMLA Regulations