Under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), qualified employees are entitled to take unpaid leave for up to 12 work weeks in any 12-month period for a qualifying event. The employee must have been employed for at least 12 months within the previous seven years with the County (including temporary/TAP employment), and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12-month period. The leave may be taken for any of the following qualifying events:
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the employee's own serious health condition;
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the care of a family member (child, spouse, parent, domestic partner, or child of domestic partner) with a serious health condition;
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the care of (bonding with) the employee’s child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care;
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a qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a family member (spouse, son, daughter, or parent) who is a “covered military member (National Guard or Reserves only) is on or being called to active duty in support of a contingency operation (FMLA only).
In addition, FMLA provides qualified employees with up to 26 work weeks of leave time to care for a seriously ill or injured family member (spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin) who is a covered service member in the Armed Forces, including the National Guard or Reserves. This leave may be taken to care for a covered service member who has a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty, for which the service member is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy; is in an outpatient status; or is on the temporary disability retired list.
Although FMLA and CFRA basically provide for unpaid leave, in many instances employees are either required or allowed to use their applicable leave balances, in accordance with regulations and MOUs. For more information regarding the use of leave balances, employees should consult the Use of Accruals for Paid Family and Medical Leave chart, available from the HR Toolbox on Workforce Exchange. It should be noted that when employees are receiving paid disability benefits (e.g., through Workers’ Compensation, Short-Term Disability or Long-Term Disability), the use of leave balances to supplement such payments requires mutual agreement between the employer and employee.
An employee on FMLA/CFRA leave also is entitled to have health care benefits maintained while on that protected leave. Employees are required to pay their share of the premiums for such benefit coverage. An employee generally has a right to return to the same or an equivalent position at the conclusion of the leave, subject to any exceptions that are allowed by the law.
Eligible employees must provide at least 30 days advance notice for FMLA/CFRA leave, whenever the need for such a leave is foreseeable. When 30 days notice is not possible, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable and generally must comply with the employer’s call-in procedures. Employees must provide sufficient information for the employer to determine if the leave may qualify for FMLA/CFRA protection and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. If you are on intermittent leave, in order to receive leave protections, you must identify any applicable time off as FMLA/CFRA time at the time of notification to your department.