Resources for leave and compliance management

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): A federal law that requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons.
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): A civil rights statute that prohibits disability discrimination and requires covered employers to provide employees with disabilities reasonable accommodations, including leave, to perform the essential functions of their job.
• Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA): The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires employers with 15+ employees to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified workers with known physical or mental conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth or other pregnancy-related medical issues regardless of if the condition meets the definition of disability under the ADA. The PWFA applies solely to accommodations and does not override more protective federal, state or local laws.
• Paid family and medical leave (PFML): A state-run insurance program providing wage replacement benefits for certain family and medical reasons. Eligibility, wage replacement and job protection rules vary by state.

Intermittent leave is time off taken in separate blocks, rather than all at once, due to a medical need or other qualifying reason. It may range from a few minutes to days or weeks.

Employees should try to schedule planned leave to reduce disruption when possible. In some cases, approval for an intermittent leave schedule may be required.

Undue hardship means an employer may deny a reasonable accommodation if, after reviewing the specific situation, providing the accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense to the business. This applies to most accommodation laws like the ADA, PWFA and state accommodation laws. Employers must consider factors like the cost of the accommodation, their financial resources, how their business operates and how the accommodation would affect their operations. They can't make this decision based on assumptions; it must be based on facts.

To be eligible under the FMLA, an employee must work for a covered employer and:

• Length of employment: Employed by the organization for at least 12 months, which need not be consecutive (employment prior to a break of over seven years generally don’t count unless subject to exceptions).
• Hours worked: Worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period preceding the start of leave (actual hours worked, not counting PTO or holidays).
• Worksite size: Work at a site where the employer has 50 or more employees within a 75 surface-mile radius.

• Childbirth or placement: birth or placement of a child (for adoption or foster care) within one year of the event
• Family care: Caring for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition.
• Self-care: Managing their own serious health condition that prevents them from performing their job.
• Military exigency: Qualifying exigencies related to a close family member’s active military deployment.
• Military caregiver leave: Covers up to 26 weeks to care for a covered service member or veteran with a serious injury or illness.

A serious health condition under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition involving either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider. Qualifying conditions generally fall into the following categories:

• Inpatient care: An overnight stay in a hospital, hospice or residential medical facility, including any related period of incapacity or follow-up treatment.
• Incapacity plus treatment: A period of incapacity lasting more than three full consecutive days that includes a visit to a health care provider within seven days and either a treatment regimen (e.g., prescription medication) or a second provider visit within 30 days.
• Pregnancy and prenatal care: Includes prenatal appointments, morning sickness, bed rest and any incapacity due to pregnancy or recovery from childbirth.
• Chronic conditions: Conditions requiring at least two visits per year to a health care provider and causing episodic incapacity, such as asthma, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis.
• Permanent or long-term conditions: Incapacity due to conditions where treatment may not be effective, requiring ongoing supervision by a health care provider (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, terminal cancer or severe stroke).
• Conditions requiring multiple treatments: Conditions requiring ongoing treatments like chemotherapy, dialysis or physical therapy, either for restorative surgery or to prevent extended incapacity.

Technically yes. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) doesn't prohibit employees from working a second job while on FMLA leave. However, if your company has a uniformly applied policy that restricts outside or supplemental employment, that policy may continue to apply during FMLA leave.

Many states and the District of Columbia operate state-run paid family and medical leave (PFML) or temporary disability insurance (TDI) programs. These provide paid benefits and often job protection for reasons such as serious illness, pregnancy, bonding with a newborn or child placed for adoption/foster care, caring for a family member, safe leave and certain military-related events.

In states with mandated programs, employers must participate unless they use a qualifying private plan instead. In states allowing private plans, employers can opt out of the state plan by buying a comparable private plan that meets or exceeds state benefit, eligibility and cost standards.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities who work for covered employers — defined as those with 15 or more employees, including private sector businesses, state and local governments, labor unions and employment agencies.

Employees covered under the ADA include individuals with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, those with a history of such an impairment and those who are perceived as having such an impairment.