IV. ACADEMIC HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES (Cont.)
LEAVES OF ABSENCE (Cont.)
FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 requires that eligible employees be allowed to take unpaid leave, or paid leave if earned, for a period of up to twelve work weeks in any twelve month period (defined by MSU as the fiscal year, i.e., July 1 through June 30) in the event of the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care; because the employee is needed to care for a family member (child, spouse or parent) with a serious health condition; or because an employee's own serious health condition makes them unable to do their job. Health and dental benefits, if enrolled, will be maintained at the same level and under the same conditions as coverage would have been provided if the faculty/academic staff member were continuously employed during the entire leave period. The Act provides that this leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule.
Faculty and academic staff who have regular appointments of nine months or longer at 50% time or more and have been employed by MSU for at least twelve months are eligible under FMLA. Faculty and academic staff with fixed-term appointments of less than nine months or less than 50% time who have been employed by MSU for at least 12 months and have at least 1,250 hours of service during the twelve months immediately preceding the commencement of FMLA leave are also eligible.
Faculty and academic staff are required to use paid leave provided by the short-term disability leave of absence policy (see preceding section) in the case of pregnancy, childbirth and/or recovery or their own "serious health condition" and count it toward the twelve weeks of leave permitted under the FMLA. Short term absences that are not "serious health conditions" do not count toward the twelve weeks of FMLA leave. Faculty and academic staff may choose to use vacation leave for all or part of any otherwise unpaid FMLA leave, e.g., for the "serious health condition" of a family member. Vacation leave for such purposes is counted toward the twelve weeks of leave permitted under the FMLA.
FMLA leave shall be concurrent with parental and other paid/unpaid leaves of absence taken for FMLA reasons. For example, faculty and academic staff are not entitled to an additional twelve weeks of FMLA leave for birth of a child after the conclusion of a 12-week leave provided under the short-term disability and parental leave policies.
FMLA leave will not be provided beyond the end date of a fixed-term appointment.
Faculty and academic staff must provide their department chairperson/school director at least 30 days advance notice before FMLA leave is to begin if the need for the leave is foreseeable. Otherwise, notice must be given as soon as practicable. Units may require medical certification to support a request for leave because of a serious health condition and may require second or third opinions (at the unit's expense) and a fitness for duty report to return to work.
Questions regarding the FMLA may be directed to your department/school or the Office of Academic Human Resources (355-1526).
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