Survey-Length of leave after FMLA

njjel

Can you all tell me if you extend any additional leave time to an ee who has used thier FMLA and is unable to return to work after the 12 weeks? If you do give additional leave can you tell me how much addition leave time is given? We are looking at writing a policy and want to see what others are doing before we put pen to paper. Thanks folks!

Crout

I think I'm in the same business as you, and our policy states that if you cannot return to work after FMLA has run out you must resign your position.

Whatever

Our policy, for the ee's illness only, is to extend for up to an additional 14 weeks (for a total of 26 weeks, the period of statutory STD). We do not extend for the illness of a relative.

ray a

We will keep ee's on the payroll for up to 6 months continuous leave at which point their employment is terminated if they do not return to work. Intermitten leave has never been an issue.

mdm

Our policy is to extend up to 6 months as Whatever and ray a have mentioned.

njjel

Does the 6 months include the 3 months of FMLA or is it a total of 9 months?

ray a

For me a grand total of 6 months.

Whatever

Yes, the 26 weeks include the 12 weeks for FMLA. I am putting this way, because FMLA is for weeks, not months (this could make a difference).

mushroomHR

We grant 26 weeks of STD which includes the FML. After that if they cannot return to work they are removed from the payroll. FML for reasons other than their own serious health condition would result in the termination of their employment after 12 weeks.

deniseE

we have 2 FMLA categories...

First parental leave....we offer a total of 986 hours...26 weeks of leave. this can be taken in a variety of ways based upon the person's job and business need....for example...I'm working part-time Mon-Weds. The leave must be used by the time the baby is a year old.

We also offer an extended leave of absence. This is also a 26 week leave. and can be extended on a case-by-case basis for another 12 weeks. again, depending on business need.

I can send you a copy of our policy-if you like.

HRLASS

For an employee illness, we currently do 12 weeks of FMLA, then to long term disability. The job protection ends after FMLA and the employee has an additional 15 months to regain health and find another job within the company before termination. We did have a situation recently where at 18 months, we were in the process of negotiating with an employee who had been seriously injured and on Workers' Comp. He was left with a disability that could qualify under the ADA and we had an obligation to rehire under our state WC statutes. Under the circumstances, we extended the final termination date for approx 45 days and got him back to work in another position. Our guideline was up to 90 days of extension if it was reasonable that we could work through the situation and get a good employee back to work.
We are about to change to institute 26 weeks of STD which will include FMLA leave and extend into what is now LTD with a total of 18 months as described above.
For a family illness, after FMLA there might be some negotiation, but generally termination.

marc

We can grant an additional 90 days of unpaid leave at the discretion of our Exec Dir. Most of those unpaid leaves last less than 30 days.

We do not guarantee the position or the wage during these leaves, and the prognosis must be that a return is possible/probable at the end of the extra leave coupled with the EEs desire to return.

pork1

NJJEL: We have an additional medical leave policy that allows the company to obtain an application from the FMLA employee, which request an additonal 14 weeks of medical leave. The two stipulations attached to the application is: 1) the employee must request the additional time of and 2)provided physician's prognosis that the ee will return to full duty prior to the end of the 14th week, date certain. If these two provisions are not met the employee is terminated for failure to return to the work force at the end of the designated 12 week FMLA, "date certain".

PORK

POPEYE

We offer all EEs 4 weeks of unpaid Personal Leave in any "rolling 12-month" period providing they are not on any disciplinary writeup and provided the reason for the leave is not FMLA qualifying.
We do require that the leave be taken in no less than 1 week increments. This is mostly utilized at the end of the FMLA period for those that are not able to return at the exhaustion of entitlement.

Whirlwind

Our policy states that once an employee has exhausted "all applicable paid and unpaid leave entitlements" (that means their PTO, FMLA if eligible, and ADA if continuing absence beyond FMLA has been determined to be a reasonable accommodation), we will make a determination of whether there is a business necessity to fill their position. We are in the process of developing the business necessity determination procedure to implement this policy, and it will take into consideration things like how difficult and costly it will be to fill the position vs. how detrimental it would be to hold the position open for the person on leave, whether a qualified subtitute is available (we're a school), and other factors like that. This concept of "business necessity" comes from state Atty. General opinions about terminating a person on Workers' Comp. We've simply decided to have the same standard for extending leave beyond FMLA whether W/C or not.

HRinFL

We offer an additional 12 weeks for the ees own serious health condition. If the ee does not qualify for the additional leave and does not return to work after the FMLA leave, they are administratively separated after 30 days.

Leslie

Just like Crout, if you cannot return to work after FMLA has run out you must resign your position.

E Wart

"Additional leave time" and FMLA are two different factors.
FMLA only guarantees holding their particular job open (or something similar.) Once a person has used up their 12 weeks, normally we notify the employee that we are unable to continue to hold open their position. They are given a chance to return to work if possible. Then, it depends upon why they are out if they continue to be employed or if we consider that they have resigned because not able to return to work.
However, if the person is not medically able to return to work, their job may be filled, but they can continue under the STD for up to 26 weeks. If they are out due to someone else's illness, their employment could end the date their FMLA ends.
You need to check your Disability policies and your insurance policies to make sure all of this coincides/coordinates, as well as any state and/or federal laws
E Wart

AnneLa

We grant an additioanl 6 months after FMLA has expired. This is only for an employee and the serious illness must be recertified.