FMLA 12 month forward
njjel
1,235 Posts
Hello All - I am back to work after a 3 month disability leave and of course I have a question!
Under 825.200 (b) of FMLA if we use option 3, the 12 months measured forward method and an employee is out from say February 1, 2006 and uses all 12 weeks of leave and returns to work in May 2006 - when would that employee be eligible to take 12 weeks leave again?
Under 825.200 (b) of FMLA if we use option 3, the 12 months measured forward method and an employee is out from say February 1, 2006 and uses all 12 weeks of leave and returns to work in May 2006 - when would that employee be eligible to take 12 weeks leave again?
Comments
Regardless of when and how long an EE takes leave, the counting starts over again on 2/1/07 if the first day of any sort of leave was 2/1/06.
Question one has some caveats around the method you select, but in essence, the EE gets 12 weeks during any 12 month period. The calendar year is a fixed 12 month period, but the roll forward or roll back methods both look at 12 months from the date in question.
I'm not sure I agree with your statement and would love it if James or an attorney would pipe in here. I've copied information from the dol website:
(b) An employer is permitted to choose any one of the following
methods for determining the ``12-month period'' in which the 12 weeks of
leave entitlement occurs:
(1) The calendar year;
(2) Any fixed 12-month ``leave year,'' such as a fiscal year, a year
required by State law, or a year starting on an employee's
``anniversary'' date;
(3) The 12-month period measured forward from the date any
employee's first FMLA leave begins; or,
(4) A ``rolling'' 12-month period measured backward from the date an
employee uses any FMLA leave (except that such measure may not extend
back before August 5, 1993).
(c) Under methods in paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) of this section an
employee would be entitled to up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave at any time
in the fixed 12-month period selected. An employee could, therefore,
take 12 weeks of leave at the end of the year and 12 weeks at the
beginning of the following year. Under the method in paragraph (b)(3) of
this section, an employee would be entitled to 12 weeks of leave during
the year beginning on the first date FMLA leave is taken; the next 12-
month period would begin the first time FMLA leave is taken after
completion of any previous 12-month period. Under the method in
paragraph (b)(4) of this section, the ``rolling'' 12-month period, each
time an employee takes FMLA leave the remaining leave entitlement would
be any balance of the 12 weeks which has not been used during the
immediately preceding 12 months. For example, if an employee has taken
eight weeks of leave during the past 12 months, an additional four weeks
of leave could be taken. If an employee used four weeks beginning
February 1, 1994, four weeks beginning June 1, 1994, and four weeks
beginning December 1, 1994, the employee would not be entitled to any
additional leave until February 1, 1995. However, beginning on February
1, 1995, the employee would be entitled to four weeks of leave, on June
1 the employee would be entitled to an additional four weeks, etc.
It's my understanding that the poster's employee would be eligible to take 12 weeks of fml after 2/1/07 as the initial 12 month period has been completed. Am I misreading the regs?
Mandi
The rules which Mandi included explain this perfectly:
Under the method in paragraph (b)(3) of
this section, an employee would be entitled to 12 weeks of leave during
the year beginning on the first date FMLA leave is taken; the next 12-
month period would begin the first time FMLA leave is taken after
completion of any previous 12-month period.
This is actually quite easily to administer, and there's no "buying back" of days since this is not a rolling basis program. This is essentially a calendar year basis program but with changing calendar start dates.
Clear as mud???
It seems to me that the looking forward method is essentially a custom leave year for each employee. It starts the first time they use leave and ends at the end of a year. Thus it would allow for stacking. (Example one week leave starting the leave year in June, eleven weeks leave at the end of that year ending in June of the next year and twelve weeks of leave starting in June of that year.) That is why the rolling look back year is popular with employers as it does not allow more than 12 weeks of leave in a row in any case. Not that anything is wrong with the look forward year as it is mentioned in the regs and is perfectly legal.