FMLA: What is it?

In 1993 the Family Medical Leave Act became law. FMLA helps workers take care of themselves and their families, and protects their jobs. Your union contract may expand on what’s below.

What Benefits Does FMLA Provide?

1. Up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for medical leave, family leave, childbirth /newborn care up to age one, and/or adoption or foster placement.

2. Leave may be taken continuously, intermittently or as part of a reduced schedule.

3. During the leave, health benefits must be maintained by the employer; however, the employee is required to pay their share of the health benefit premium as if they are working.

4. The worker must be restored to their original position or its equivalent upon return from leave.

Who is Eligible for FMLA?

1. Worked for employer at least 12 months (need not be consecutive).

2. Worked 1250 hours over previous 12 months and currently on the payroll.

3. Employed at a worksite with at least 50 workers within 75 miles of the worksite.

4. The leave is a result of a serious health condition affecting the worker or the worker’s child, spouse or parent.

What is a Qualifying Condition?

The types of events that trigger FMLA protections include:

1. The arrival of a new child in the family -- whether by birth, adoption or foster care.

2. The care of a family member (as defined by the law) with a serious health condition.

3. The employee's own serious health condition that prevents the employee from performing the essential job duties.

What is a Serious Health Condition?

1. Overnight stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility.

2. Incapacity for more than three (3) consecutive calendar days that require two or more visits to a health care provider, or ongoing treatment like a prescription. The first visit must occur within seven (7) days of incapacity and the second within thirty (30) days; or a single visit that results in a regimen of supervised treatment.

3. An incapacity due to serious chronic disorder that continues over an extended period of time, requires periodic visits (2X/year) for treatment, and causes or may cause episodic periods of incapacity.

4. An incapacity due to pregnancy.

5. A long term or permanent disability.

6. An absence to receive treatments for restorative surgery after an injury. FMLA sets the floor, not the ceiling.

Unions can bargain greater benefits and more generous leave policies.

UFCW 227 members can request more info about FMLA by contacting their union representative or by filling in a contact request here.

If you are not a UFCW 227 member, but want more information about how to start a union at your job, please visit our Are You Ready to Start a Union page.