two employees/same parent for FMLA

Irie

I know that if a husband and wife work for the same company and each wishes to take leave for the birth of a child, adoption, or to care for a servicemember, the couple may only take a combined total of 12 weeks of leave (or 26 for the servicemember).

What if you have a two siblings working for your company and they have an ill parent that they need to take care of - do the children only get a combined 12 weeks of FMLA or can each take 12 weeks of FMLA to care for the parent? I think it would be 12 weeks combined but I'm not sure. Thanks.

Susan in La

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-06-08 AT 12:47PM (CST)[/font][br][br]We have had that situation and both children were given 12 weeks each. The mother also worked here, so we had three people eligible for 12 weeks each of FMLA. I don't think the regs make us split except for the parents caring for the newborn. I haven't seen the service member rules yet.

HR Jones

The combined total of 12 weeks of leave does not apply to sibling relationships. They would both get 12 weeks of leave individually.

ritamcguire

What if the parents (not married) of a new born child worked for the same company? Does the Mother & Father (again not married) share 12 weeks for their child as would a married couple or do they each get 12 weeks to care for their new-born (a total of 24 weeks where a married couple would only get 12 weeks)? Interesting!

HR Jones

The unmarried parents would each get 12 weeks of leave, for a total of 24 weeks. FMLA only stipulates that a married couple working for the same company has to share the 12 weeks... Or else the regulations would have to say two parents working for the same company must share the 12 weeks...

Susan in La

I work for a state agency and our policy states if both parents work for the state, then they share the 12 week entitlement. It does not stipulate they have to be married to each other.

HR Jones

I would take a close look at that policy - there is nothing in the regs that I have found that would allow you to lessen someone's entitlement. If you know of a place in the regs that does allow for that, please share with us.

Susan in La

This comes from the federal regs on the US Department of Labor website:

f) SPOUSES EMPLOYED BY THE SAME EMPLOYER.--In any case in which a husband and wife entitled to leave under subsection (a) are employed by the same employer, the aggregate number of workweeks of leave to which both may be entitled may be limited to 12 workweeks during any 12-month period, if such leave is taken--
(1) under subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (a)(1); or
(2) to care for a sick parent under subparagraph (C) of such subsection

NaeNae55

Susan:

Spouses are only spouses if they are married. This thread is about parents who are NOT married. Your earlier post seemed to imply that as long as they were parents, married or not, they had to share the 12 weeks. Did we misunderstand?

Nae

Susan in La

I realized that as I was posting the federal reg, but our headquarters office sets the policy for our agency and they say if both parents work for the state they share FMLA for care of a newborn or a child adopted. I'm not sure how many times it has come up here. If the spouse or other parent works for another state agency and we aren't aware, they don't have to share, but I think we have had an occasion where both parents worked for us, weren't married, and shared FMLA for a birth.