AUTHORITY POLICY STATEMENT This information is available in alternative format upon request

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "AUTHORITY POLICY STATEMENT This information is available in alternative format upon request"

Transcription

1 AUTHORITY POLICY STATEMENT This information is available in alternative format upon request Number: HR 94-1 Date: February 5, 1994 Amended: May 15, 2015 Subject: FAMILY AND MEDICAL AND PARENTAL LEAVE POLICY I. FMLA POLICY SUMMARY The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was enacted on February 5, This new law is effective on August 5, 1993 for most employers. However, if a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is in effect on that date, the Act becomes effective on the expiration date of the CBA or February 5, As of the date of this policy, all collective bargaining agreements with the Boston Housing Authority have expired and are currently open for negotiation. Therefore, for all employees of the B.H.A. the FMLA becomes effective on February 5, The FMLA entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave each year for specified family and medical reasons. The leave may be paid, unpaid, or a combination of paid and unpaid, depending on the circumstances and as specified in this policy. A. EMPLOYEE ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible for FMLA leave benefits, an employee must: 1. Have worked for the Boston Housing Authority for a total of at least 12 months. 2. Have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months; and 3. Work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the Boston Housing Authority within a 75-mile radius. B. LEAVE ENTITLEMENT: An eligible employee is entitled to utilize up to 12 weeks of leave during a 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons: 1. For the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care; 2. To care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; Page 1 of 6

2 3. To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition; or 4. Because of any "qualifying exigency" (as the U.S. Secretary of Labor shall, by regulation, determine) arising out of the fact that the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation. An eligible employee is entitled to utilize 26 weeks of leave during a single 12-month period under the following circumstances: 1. Because of any "qualifying exigency" (as the U.S. Secretary of Labor shall, by regulation, determine) arising out of the fact that the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation. 2. A "contingency operation" is a military operation that is designated by the U.S. Secretary of Defense as an operation in which members of the Armed Forces are, or may, become involved in military operations, actions, or hostilities against an enemy of the U.S. and/or an opposing military force; or during a war, national emergency, or other circumstance when there is retention of active military forces, or a call or order to military duty of active forces. 3. Until such time as the U.S. Secretary of Labor issues those regulations, the FMLA policy of the B.H.A. policy will entitle an eligible employee, who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered member of the Armed Forces of the U.S., and who is recovering from a serious illness or injury sustained in the line of duty on active duty, to up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for the member. (This military caregiver leave is available during "a single 12-month period" during which an eligible employee is entitled to a combined total of 26 weeks of all types of FMLA leave.) C. FMLA LEAVE PROCESS 1. The twelve-month period designated for the purposes of tracking leave granted under the FMLA will be the calendar year from January 1st to December 31st. During this period of time, an employee may utilize up to 12 weeks of leave (or, in the case of caring for an injured or ill service member as defined above, 26 weeks of leave. (For the purposes of this agreement, any leave requested & approved since 1/1/94 will be deducted from the twelve-week allotment per calendar year.) 2. The only circumstance in which FMLA may be taken intermittently is whenever it is medically necessary to care for a seriously ill family member, because the employee is seriously ill and unable to work, or to care for service member who is recovering from a serious illness or injury sustained in the line of active duty. 3. In the case of leave that is requested due to illness of the employee, the employee's sick leave, vacation and personal leave balances will run concurrently with FMLA leave and must be depleted prior to the granting of unpaid leave. Page 2 of 6

3 4. An employee who has requested family leave or medical leave in order to care for an immediate family member or service member of the U.S. Armed Forces, must use any accrued vacation and personal leave balances prior to the granting of unpaid leave. (Up to ten (10) days of an employee's sick leave balance may be used for this purpose but only as defined in the applicable collective bargaining agreements.) 5. All employees must provide 30 days advance notice before the leave is to begin, if the need for the leave is foreseeable; for example in the case of maternity leave. This notice should be submitted in the form of a written request to the Director of Human Resources. If the need for leave is not foreseeable, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable. Failure to provide such advance notice will result in a denial of the leave request until 30 days after the notice has been provided. 6. Employees will receive written notification from the Director of Human Resources informing them that the leave has been approved or denied. This decision will be based on an employee's eligibility and a review of the circumstances surrounding the request. The written notice will contain an explanation of the employee's rights and responsibilities under the FMLA. 7. During the period of unpaid leave, the BHA will continue to pay the employer's share of the health care premiums. However, the employee is responsible for their share of the cost and should pay the health care provider directly. Employees will be informed of the process to pay their provider directly when the leave is approved. 8. Note: The BHA may recover premiums it pays to maintain health coverage for an employee who fails to return to work from FMLA leave. 9. Employees shall not accrue sick or vacation time during the period of unpaid leave. However, an employee's seniority will be maintained. 10. Employees who are on an authorized unpaid leave of absence will not receive holiday pay for any holiday which is observed during such a leave. However, employees who receive pay during their authorized leave of absence in the form of sick, vacation or personal time, will receive pay for the observed holiday. D. WHEN BOTH SPOUSES WORK FOR THE BHA: IN GENERAL 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. Because of the birth of a son or daughter of the employee and in order to care for such son or daughter, 2. Because of the placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care, or Page 3 of 6

4 3. In order to care for the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent, of the employee, if such spouse, son, daughter, or parent has a serious health condition. SERVICE MEMBER FAMILY LEAVE The aggregate number of workweeks of leave to which both that husband and wife may be entitled under subsection (a) may be limited to 26 workweeks during the single 12-month period if all or part of that leave is to provide care for an ill or injured member of the Armed Forces who was injured in the line of duty during a "contingency operation." E. CERTIFICATION: An employee must provide certification from a health care provider for any leave that is requested due to an employee's or family member's "serious health condition". Failure to do so will result in a denial of the leave request until the employee provides the requested certification. Prior to returning to work an employee who has been on leave due to their own "serious illness" must provide certification from a health care provider as to their ability to return to work. Failure to do so will delay an employee's date of return. F. JOB RESTORATION: At the end of a family or medical leave an employee shall be reinstated in his/her former position, if available, or to a similar position equivalent in pay, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment as of the date of the employee's leave, as economic conditions Warrant. An employee's failure to return to work at the expiration of the twelve-week period will jeopardize their rights to job restoration. The employee's right to be restored is limited to what the employee's job would have been if he or she has not taken leave. Under specified and limited circumstances, an employer may refuse to reinstate certain "key" employees after using FMLA leave during which health coverage was maintained. A "key" employee is a salaried eligible employee who is among the highest paid ten percent of employees. In order to refuse reinstatement an employer must first notify the employee of their "key" employee status, offer the employee a reasonable opportunity to return to work and notify the employee of its reasons for denial of job restoration. G. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS: Some of the collective bargaining agreements contain language which addresses time off for the purposes of family and medical leaves of absence. The FMLA leave policy is inclusive of these provisions and does not necessarily extend the time allotted for leave. Page 4 of 6

5 II. PAID PARENTAL LEAVE POLICY SUMMARY Any benefits-eligible BHA employee, who has worked for the BHA for a minimum of one (1) year, shall be entitled to six (6) consecutive weeks of paid parental leave for the purpose of caring for his/ her newborn or newly adopted child under the age of eighteen (or a child under the age of twenty-three if the child is mentally or physically disabled). The leave shall apply equally to parents regardless of gender, as well as to same-sex couples, in the event of a natural birth by any Method, adoption, surrogacy, and stillbirths. The leave must be taken within the first year after the birth or adoption of the child/children. The number of paid parental leave periods an employee may take over the duration of the employee's employment is unlimited; however, employees are eligible for only one six (6) week paid period per birth or adoption regardless of the number of children born or adopted by the employee. During the six (6) week paid leave period, the employee shall be paid as follows: 100% of his/her base wages during weeks 1 and 2; 75% of his/her base wages during weeks 3 and 4; and 50% of his/her base wages during weeks 5 and 6. The employee's accrued sick, vacation and personal time shall be used to supplement the employee's earnings during weeks 3, 4, 5, and 6 unless the employee notifies the Director of Human Resources in writing at the time of his/her request for leave that he/she does not wish to supplement his/her earnings with accrued time. A. REQUIRED NOTICE AND CERTIFICATION The employee must request leave at least two (2) weeks before the leave is to begin. The request for leave must be submitted in the form of a written request to the Director of Human Resources and must include written certification from a health care provider or adoption agency representative. B. ADMINISTRATION OF OTHER BENEFITS Paid parental leave shall run concurrently with and be counted toward other leaves for which the employee is also eligible, including, for example, FMLA leave and leave pursuant to the Massachusetts Parental Leave Act. Once the employee has exhausted his/her paid parental leave, the employee's sick, vacation and personal leave balances will be used concurrently with any other remaining leave and must be depleted prior to the granting of unpaid leave. Page 5 of 6

6 C. WHERE BOTH PARENTS WORK FOR THE BHA Where both parents work for the BHA, each is entitled to take up to six (6) consecutive weeks of paid parental leave. They may take their leaves at the same time or at different times so long as the leave is taken within the first year following the birth or adoption of the child. (Note: If both parents elect to take six (6) weeks of paid parental leave, they will exhaust the twelve (12) week aggregate amount of leave allowable under the FMLA for this purpose). D. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS Some of the collective bargaining agreements contain language which addresses time off for the purposes of parental leave. The BHA's Family and Medical and Parental Leave policy is inclusive of these provisions and does not necessarily extend the time allotted for leave. III. MASSACHUSETTS PARENTAL LEAVE ACT According to Section 105D of the Massachusetts Fair Employment Practice Law, eligible employees are entitled to unpaid parental leave for a period not to exceed eight (8) weeks for the purpose of giving birth or for adopting a child under the age of eighteen (or a child under the age of twenty-three if the child is mentally or physically disabled). Employees are eligible for leave under this law if: 1. They have been employed by the BHA for three (3) consecutive months as a fulltime employee, and 2. They provide the BHA with at least two weeks' notice of the need for leave, the anticipated date of departure, and intention to return. Employees must provide the BHA written notice, at least two weeks in advance, of their anticipated return date. If an employee is also eligible for other leaves, such as FMLA leave and/ or paid parental leave, for example, the leaves shall run concurrently. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact Human Resources at (617) Page 6 of 6