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COLUMBUS FMLA LAWYER: WHO CAN TAKE FMLA?

If you have questions about FMLA leave, you’ve come to the right place.  The FMLA lawyers at The Friedmann Firm are well versed in all things FMLA and can answer any questions you have about your eligibility for leave, what type of leave is best for you and whether your employer is required to pay you while you are on FMLA leave.

WHO CAN TAKE FMLA LEAVE?

• You must work for a “covered employer”;
• Have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of your FMLA leave
• work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles; and
• have worked for the employer for 12 months.  The 12 months of employment are not required to be consecutive in order for the employee to qualify for FMLA leave.  In general, only employment within seven years is counted unless the break in service is (1) due to an employee’s fulfillment of military obligations, or (2) governed by a collective bargaining agreement or other written agreement.

IS MY EMPLOYER REQUIRED TO PAY ME WHEN I TAKE FMLA LEAVE?

• The FMLA only requires unpaid leave.  However, you can elect to, or your employer can require you, to use accrued paid vacation leave, paid sick or family leave for some or all of the FMLA leave period.  Therefore, your PTO and sick leave can run concurrently with FMLA.  An employee must follow the employer’s normal leave rules in order to substitute paid leave.  When you use paid leave of any kind for an FMLA-covered reason, the FMLA leave protects your job.

WHEN CAN I USE FMLA LEAVE?

• A covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons:
  • for the birth of a son or daughter, and to bond with the newborn child;
  • for the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care, and to bond with that child;
  • to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent – but not a parent “in-law”) with a serious health condition;
  • to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition; or
  • for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status as a member of the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces.

  The FMLA also allows eligible employees to take up to 26 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a “single 12-month period” to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.

For any and all questions about FMLA leave, please contact our Columbus FMLA leave lawyers today.