Family, Parental & Medical Leave (FMLA) Policy

Purpose

To help employees balance work and family responsibilities by providing job-protected, unpaid leave for their own serious health condition, the serious health condition of a family member, or the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child — consistent with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and any more generous state or local law.

Eligibility

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee generally must have:

• Worked for the Company for at least 12 months (the 12 months need not be consecutive; any week in which the employee worked at all counts), and
• Worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months immediately before the leave begins, and
• Worked at a location where the Company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Employers may choose to apply more generous eligibility thresholds than the federal minimum (for example, a lower hours-worked requirement) to align with certain state family/medical leave laws that are broader than the FMLA — confirm your organization's approach with counsel and reflect it here consistently.

Amount of leave

Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a rolling 12-month period, measured backward from the date any FMLA leave is first used. (An employer may choose to provide more than the federal 12-week minimum; state law may also require more. If your organization exceeds 12 weeks, state the actual number and update every reference below.)

Eligible employees may take up to 26 workweeks of unpaid leave during a single 12-month period (measured forward from the start of the employee's first military caregiver leave, not the employer's standard FMLA leave year) to care for a covered servicemember, as described under Military Caregiver Leave below. This 26-week cap applies to the combined total of military caregiver leave and any other FMLA-qualifying leave taken in that same 12-month period.

If both spouses work for the Company:

• For leave to bond with a new child (birth, adoption, or foster placement) or to care for a parent with a serious health condition, the two are limited to a combined total of 12 workweeks between them.
• For leave to care for a spouse or child with a serious health condition, or for the employee's own serious health condition, each spouse is separately entitled to the full 12 weeks.
• Where either spouse takes military caregiver leave, the two are limited to a combined total of 26 workweeks between them in the single 12-month period.

Covered reasons

1. Parental leave — to care for the employee's newborn child, or a child newly placed for adoption or foster care. Must begin and be completed within 12 months of the birth or placement.
2. Family leave — to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. (Consider whether to extend coverage to domestic partners, parents-in-law, or other family members beyond the federal minimum — some employers do, and some state laws require a broader family definition.)
3. Medical leave — for the employee's own serious health condition that prevents the employee from performing the essential functions of the job.
4. Qualifying exigency leave — up to the standard 12-workweek entitlement, for qualifying needs arising from the fact that the employee's spouse, child, or parent is a member of the Armed Forces (including the National Guard or Reserves) on covered active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty. Qualifying exigencies include short-notice deployment, military events and related activities, certain childcare and school activities, financial and legal arrangements, counseling, rest and recuperation, post-deployment activities, and parental-care needs arising from the deployment.
5. Military caregiver leave (servicemember family leave) — up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period, for an employee who is the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a covered servicemember — a current member of the Armed Forces (including the National Guard or Reserves) with a serious injury or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, or a covered veteran (discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable at any time during the preceding 5 years) undergoing treatment for a qualifying serious injury or illness — to care for that servicemember.

Key definitions

• Serious health condition — an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either (a) inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical-care facility, or (b) continuing treatment by a health care provider, including incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days combined with ongoing treatment, or a chronic condition that requires periodic treatment and would likely cause incapacity if untreated.
• Health care provider — a licensed physician and certain other licensed or state-authorized providers (for example, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, clinical psychologists, and others as recognized by applicable regulation).
• Child — a biological, adopted, foster, step-, or legal-ward child, or a child of someone standing in loco parentis, under age 18 (or 18 or older if incapable of self-care because of a disability).
• Spouse — a husband or wife, including a same-sex spouse, as determined by the law of the place where the marriage was entered into (not necessarily the state where the employee currently lives).
• Covered servicemember — a current member of the Armed Forces, National Guard, or Reserves (including one on the temporary disability retired list) with a serious injury or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, or a covered veteran — discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable at any time during the 5-year period before the first date leave is taken to care for that veteran — who is undergoing treatment for a qualifying injury or illness.

How leave can be taken

Leave may be taken in any combination of the following, up to the total entitlement:

• Continuous leave — one block, or more than one separate block of time off.
• Reduced schedule — working fewer hours per day or per week than normal (common where an employee's own condition doesn't require being fully off work).
• Intermittent leave — separate blocks of time off, which can be as short as part of a day, for conditions that need periodic rather than continuous care or treatment.

A leave request that is medically certified as necessary for intermittent or a reduced schedule generally cannot be denied. Requests to bond with a new child on an intermittent or reduced-schedule basis require employer approval. While an employee is on a reduced schedule or intermittent leave, the Company may temporarily transfer the employee to an available equivalent position (same pay and benefits) that better accommodates the recurring schedule.

Notice and scheduling

• For foreseeable leave (for example, a planned birth, adoption, or scheduled medical treatment), the employee should give at least 30 days' notice, or as much notice as is practicable.
• For unforeseeable leave (a medical emergency), the employee or a family member should notify the Company as soon as practicable — generally within one to two business days of learning of the need for leave.
• The Company will provide timely written notice designating whether the leave qualifies as FMLA leave, generally within five business days of having enough information to make that determination, whether or not the employee specifically invokes "FMLA" by name.
• While on continuous leave, the employee should periodically update the Company (for example, every 30 days) on their status and intent to return.

Medical certification

The Company may require medical certification supporting the need for leave, using a standard certification form. Where the Company has reason to question a certification for the employee's own serious health condition, it may — at its own expense — require a second opinion from a health care provider of its choosing; if the first and second opinions conflict, a third, mutually agreeable provider's opinion (again at the Company's expense) will be considered final. The Company also reimburses the employee's reasonable out-of-pocket travel expenses for obtaining a required second or third opinion, and generally may not require travel outside the employee's normal commuting area for this purpose. A fitness-for-duty certification may be required before an employee returns from leave for their own serious health condition. The second/third-opinion process does not apply to certifications of a covered servicemember's serious injury or illness.

Military leave certification

• For qualifying exigency leave, the Company may require certification of the military member's covered active-duty status and a description of the qualifying exigency.
• For military caregiver leave, the Company may require certification of the covered servicemember's serious injury or illness, which may be provided by a Department of Defense-authorized health care provider (in addition to, or instead of, a standard health care provider) where the servicemember is a current member of the Armed Forces.

Substituting paid time off

Employees may choose (but are not required) to use accrued paid time off, such as vacation, sick, or personal time, to cover some or all of an otherwise-unpaid FMLA leave, subject to the Company's normal rules for using that paid time. Doing so does not reduce the employee's total FMLA leave entitlement — it simply determines whether a given day of leave is paid or unpaid.

Benefits during leave

• Group health plan coverage continues on the same terms as if the employee were actively at work, for up to the duration of FMLA leave, provided the employee continues to pay their normal share of premiums.
• Other benefits (for example, retirement-plan contributions tied to compensation, supplemental savings-plan participation) are administered per plan terms; leave typically does not interrupt service credit for vesting purposes, but pay-based contributions may pause if the employee isn't receiving pay.
• If the employee does not return to work for reasons other than a continued serious health condition (or circumstances beyond their control), the Company may seek reimbursement of health-premium payments made on the employee's behalf during unpaid leave, subject to applicable law.

Job restoration

On return from FMLA leave, an employee is generally restored to the same position, or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms of employment. Two narrow exceptions apply:

• Position elimination unrelated to the leave. If the employee's position was eliminated for reasons entirely unrelated to the leave and no equivalent position exists, restoration may not be possible; consult HR and counsel before communicating this outcome.
• Key employee. A very limited "key employee" exception may allow the Company to deny restoration to a small group of the highest-paid employees at a worksite, where restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the Company's operations. This exception is rarely used and requires advance notice to the employee and, in most cases, legal review before being invoked.

Failure to return

An employee who does not return to work when FMLA leave ends, for reasons other than a continuing serious health condition or an approved extension, is treated as having voluntarily resigned effective the last day worked. An employee who accepts other employment while on leave may be subject to discipline up to and including termination.

Responsibilities

Role	Responsibilities
Employee	Provides timely notice of the need for leave; submits requested medical certification; keeps the Company informed of status and intent to return.
Manager	Refers leave requests to HR promptly; supports the employee's return and any temporary reassignment during intermittent or reduced-schedule leave; does not make independent eligibility or designation decisions.
Human Resources	Determines eligibility and designates FMLA-qualifying leave; tracks leave usage, certification, and recertification deadlines; coordinates with payroll and benefits; ensures consistent, non-retaliatory application; posts required FMLA notices.

Interaction with other leave

An employee's FMLA leave runs concurrently with other applicable leave entitlements (such as a state family/medical leave law, workers' compensation leave, or an ADA-related leave of absence) wherever the law allows, rather than stacking sequentially — confirm the applicable coordination rules with counsel for each jurisdiction in which you operate.

Non-retaliation

The Company will not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right under this policy or the FMLA, and will not retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking protected leave, or for participating in any related proceeding. Report concerns to Human Resources.