After much delay and hoopla, the long-anticipated changes to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act have been finalized. They were released early today and will take effect Jan. 16, 2009.
Here are a few of the key changes awaiting employers:
- Supervisors will no longer be allowed to contact an employee’s health care provider for medical information when a medical certification is needed.
- Employees will be required to comply with an employer’s rules for requesting leave in advance, “absent unusual circumstances.”
- Employers will be allowed to request “fitness for duty” certifications for certain employees returning from leave necessitated by their own serious health conditions, if safety concerns exist
- Employers may disqualify employees from bonuses for hours worked, products sold, perfect attendance, or the like if the employee has not met the goal due to taking FMLA leave, unless these bonuses are paid to employees on equivalent, non-FMLA leave.
- Clarification of previously released FMLA changes relating to the care of injured military personnel, as well as new provisions relating to National Guard and Reserve personnel.
- Employees are currently eligible for FMLA leave only if they have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months and have at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12-month period preceding the leave. The proposed rule stated that, although the 12 months of employment need not be consecutive, employment prior to a continuous break in service of five years or more need not be counted. The final rule amends the proposed rule to allow up to seven years’ gap in service.
- An employee who voluntarily returns to a light duty position retains the right to job restoration to the same position, or an equivalent one, until the end of the 12-month period that the employer uses to calculate FMLA leave.
Read the text of the lengthy (762 pages) new FMLA regulations »
Don’t Get Left Behind on Important New Developments
We’ll have a full analysis of the FMLA changes, and what they mean for your organization, in an upcoming issue of CEA.
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