Human Resources Policies

POLICY: FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE
POLICY NUMBER: HR-33
Effective Date: July 2002
Last Revision: January 2009
Responsible Officer: Associate Dean, Planning and Operations

Administering Division: Human Resources

PURPOSE
The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is designed to allow employees to take unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons.  The FMLA policy was established to outline the conditions when an employee may take time off under the Family Medical Leave Act. 

POLICY
Drexel University College of Medicne complies fully with the Federal Family Medical Leave Act to provide its employees up to 12 weeks of leave in a rolling 12-month period, for their own or a family member’s serious or chronic medical condition(s).
FMLA allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a rolling 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

• An employee’s own chronic health condition, including disability due to pregnancy and/or post-partum;
• The birth and care of an employee’s newborn child;
• The placement of an adopted son or daughter or a foster child with an employee (leave must conclude within 12 months after placement);
• The care of an employee’s immediate family member (spouse, child or parent) with a serious health condition;
• An employee’s own serious health condition that makes him or her unable to work;
• The care of wounded military personnel (up to 26 weeks)

DUCOM also offers up to 26 weeks of leave to employees who provide care to wounded U.S. military personnel and 12 weeks of FMLA leave to the immediate family members of soldiers, reservists and members of the National Guard who have a “qualifying exigency.”
Family and Medical Leave does not impact your pay, but can be taken in conjunction with other plans that may provide pay  In fact,, an employee is required to exhaust all available paid leave (vacation and sick) during FMLA leave. The employee may substitute short-term disability (if applicable) for vacation time. Should the employee exhaust his/her accrued sick and/or vacation time, the remainder of the leave, if any, will be unpaid. Employees who are enrolled in the voluntary short-term disability plan should contact the insurance carrier to file a disability claim.

ELIGIBILITY
This Policy applies to all DUCOM regular, full-time and part-time, faculty and non-faculty employees. FMLA will be granted to eligible employees who have been employed by Drexel for at least twelve months, either consecutive or non-consecutive, and have worked at least 1,250 hours of service during the twelve-month period prior to the start of Family Medical Leave.  Spouses employed by DUCOM have the same rights and obligations under this policy as any other eligible employee.

DEFINITIONS
Serious health condition is defined as an illness, injury or impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient care or continuing care by a health-care provider.  Continuing care can include:

• A period of incapacity requiring absence of more than three calendar days that involves continuing treatment by a health-care provider;
• Pregnancy and time needed for prenatal visits;
• A chronic health condition, such as asthma or diabetes;
• A long-term condition such as Alzheimer’s;
• Multiple treatments by a health-care provider for a condition that likely would result in incapacity of more than three consecutive days if left untreated (such as physical therapy for a back injury

Health-care provider is defined as doctors, dentists, optometrists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, chiropractors, and even licensed social workers.

Intermittent leave is defined as any portion of a day that an employee must take off for a chronic condition.  The FMLA allows employees to take leave for as little as one hour.

A qualifying exigency is defined as one or more of the following: short notice (seven days or less) deployment, military events and related activities, childcare, school activities, financial and legal arrangements, counseling, rest and recuperation, post-deployment activities, and any other events which arise out of the covered military member’s active duty or call to active duty status that the employer and employee have agreed upon.

GUIDELINES
Request for FMLA

• Employees seeking FMLA leave are required to provide Human Resources at least 30 days prior written notice (Request for FMLA form) of the proposed leave. When advance notice is not possible, such as in the event of a medical emergency, notice should be given as soon as practicable. Failure to give advance notice where foreseeable may delay or postpone the commencement of the leave.

Notice to Employee

• When an eligible employee submits a fully completed Request for FMLA form, the Human Resources representative will notify the employee, in writing, that DUCOM is provisionally designating the leave as Family and Medical Leave

Certification of a Serious Health Condition

1. If FMLA leave is based on a serious health condition, whether it involves the employee or an immediate family member (parent, spouse or child), medical certification from a health care provider will be required. Failure to provide such certification may result in a delay of the employee’s leave.
2. When medical certification is required, that certification must be provided within fifteen (15) calendar days of Drexel’s request.  Employees should be aware that Drexel may, under certain circumstances, require recertification of a medical condition. Employees may be required to report on their intent to return to work. Whenever an employee learns of a change in the anticipated length of a FMLA leave, the employee must notify Drexel within three (3) business days of learning of such a change.
3. In addition, when returning to work from a leave taken because of the employee’s own serious health condition, the employee will be required to provide medical certification that the employee is fit to return to work.
4. DUCOM reserves the right to obtain a second opinion by a certified health care provider chosen by DUCOM. Should the two opinions conflict, DUCOM may require that the employee obtain the opinion of a third health care provider paid for by Drexel. The third health care provider will be designated or approved jointly by DUCOM and the employee. The decision of the third provider will be final.

Length of FMLA Leave

1. Eligible employees may be entitled to up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid leave during any rolling 12-month period. The period from the previous twelve months will be examined and any Family and Medical Leave taken during the previous twelve-month period will be subtracted from the current twelve-week Family and Medical Leave entitlement. For example, if the employee requests a leave scheduled to start on October 1, 2009, the time period from September 30, 2009 back to October 1, 2008 would be examined. If the employee has not taken any leave during the last twelve months, they are entitled to up to twelve weeks of leave. If, the employee took six weeks of leave during May and June of 2008 (months within the twelve- month time frame) they would be entitled to only six more weeks of leave.
2. In certain circumstances, employees may take intermittent leave. Intermittent leave for the birth and care or placement and care of a child for adoption or foster care will be allowed only with DUCOM’s prior written approval. Intermittent leave may be taken whenever medically necessary to care for a seriously ill family member or because of the employee’s own serious health condition. For example, an employee who normally works 40 hours a week may work 20 hours a week for 24 weeks (12 x 40 = 24 x 20). For part-time employees and those who work variable hours, the leave entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis. For example, an employee who normally works 30 hours a week could work intermittently for 20 hours a week for 18 weeks (30 x 12 = 20 x 18).
3. FMLA applies equally to male and female employees.  Where both spouses are employed by DUCOM, they are each entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA leave for the birth and care of their newborn child, or for the care and placement with them of a child for adoption or foster care. Leave for the birth and care, or placement and care of a child must conclude within 12 months of the birth or placement of the child.

FMLA Expanded for Military Leave

1. Eligible employees who are caregivers of wounded military personnel may take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during a rolling 12-month period to provide care for an injured U.S. military service member. The employee must be a spouse, child, parent, or nearest blood relative of the service member.
2. Employees whose family members are about to go on active military duty may be eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for any qualifying exigency while the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty in the armed services or is called to active duty in support of a war or national emergency.

Using Paid Leave

1. When an employee takes FMLA leave because of the employee’s own serious medical condition, the employee is required to use all of their available paid time during the FMLA leave. The employee will be required to exhaust all available sick time (if applicable) and vacation time at the beginning of the leave. The employee may substitute short-term disability (if applicable) for vacation time. Should the employee exhaust his/her accrued sick and/or vacation time, the remainder of the leave, if any, will be unpaid. Employees who are enrolled in the voluntary short-term disability plan should contact the insurance carrier to report a claim of disability.
2. In all other cases, accrued sick leave may be used during any (otherwise) unpaid FMLA leave if sick leave is permitted under DUCOM’s Sick Leave Policy. See Sick Leave policy. DUCOM will designate an employee’s use of paid leave as FMLA leave based on the information provided by the employee. Paid leave that is used during FMLA leave will be counted toward the 12 weeks of FMLA leave.
3. Employees receiving accrued sick and vacation time are considered to be in “active pay status”. Employees who are not being paid by  DUCOM (e.g., receiving insurance carrier disability payments) are considered to be in “inactive pay status” and accruals for sick and vacation time cease during “inactive pay status”.

Benefits During Leave

1. During any FMLA leave, DUCOM will maintain the employee’s health insurance on the same conditions that coverage would have been provided if the employee had been continuously employed during the entire leave period.  DUCOM and the employee will each continue to pay their portion of the benefit costs. DUCOM may recover premiums it paid to maintain health coverage for an employee who fails to return to work from FMLA leave.
2. University-paid life insurance, and personal accident insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, and long-term disability insurance will continue in effect for the duration of FMLA leave.
3. An employee who was participating in a dependent-care or health-care reimbursement account may continue to participate in accordance with policy provisions. No contributions can be made while the employee is on any unpaid part of an FMLA Leave.
4. Retirement plan contributions will continue in accordance with the provisions specified in the respective retirement plan documents.
5. FMLA benefits run concurrently with benefits provided by Worker’s Compensation.

Return from Leave

1. Employees returning from leave will be reinstated to the same or equivalent position, with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. Failure to return to work will result in termination of employment.
2. Employees returning from a leave for a serious health condition must provide Human Resources with a certification from a health care provider documenting their fitness to return to work. Employees who are unable to return to work at the end of the leave should notify Human Resources as soon as possible.
3. In addition, except as provided in this policy, an employee’s use of FMLA leave will not result in the loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned before using FMLA leave. Use of FMLA leave will not be counted against the employee as an “occurrence” under DUCOM’s Attendance Policy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Inquiries regarding this policy can be directed to the Human Resources Department.

RELATED POLICIES and FORMS

• Request for FMLA Form (Employee)
• Request for FMLA Form (Family Member)
• Sick Leave Policy
• Attendance Policy