Key Terms and Definitions
Twelve Workweeks of Leave: Eligible employees are entitled to 12 workweeks of family and medical leave during a 12-month period. The 12-month period can be any fixed 12-month period, such as a calendar year or fiscal year, but whatever method of measurement used must be applied consistently to all employees.
Health Insurance Benefits: Employers must continue to provide an employee on family and medical leave with the same group health insurance at the same monthly premium as when the employee is not on family and medical leave.
Notifications Required: Employers are required to inform employees about their FMLA rights. Employees are required to provide employers with 30 days notice of their intention to take family and medical leave if the need for leave is foreseeable.
Intermittent and Reduced Leave Schedule: In addition to taking leave on a full-time basis, family and medical leave may be taken in separate blocks of time (for example, one day or one month at a time) or by reducing the hours or number of days an employee works each week.
Right to Return to Work: At the conclusion of family and medical leave, an employee is entitled to be restored to the same position the employee held when leave commenced, or to an equivalent position that involves the same or substantially similar duties and responsibilities, with equivalent benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.
Key Employee: A salaried eligible employee who is among the highest paid 10 percent of employees within 75 miles of the work site.
Serious Health Condition: An illness, injury, impairment, or condition that involves inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health provider.
Other Eligibility Requirements: The 12 months of employment do not need to have been consecutive or for a single employing office. If an employee was on the payroll for part of a week, the entire week counts towards the 12 months of employment. The minimum of 1,250 hours of employment must have been worked during the 12 months immediately preceding the commencement of leave. If the employee worked for more than one employing office during that period, the hours of work will be added together.
