Software Club 210: Light Red/Club_Software_210_Light_Red_Micro_Star_1997.iso/sba/f132.sbe

Text File | 1997-01-01 | 10KB | 226 lines

@079 CHAP 9

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │   FEDERAL AND STATE FAMILY LEAVE LEGISLATION  │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

One of the first acts of the Clinton Administration when it
took office in 1993 was to get a family and medical leave
bill passed in Congress again.  (Passage of such bills in
1990 and 1992 had been successfully vetoed by President
Bush.)  This time, the bill was immediately signed into law
by President Clinton, on February 5, 1993, and it went into
effect on August 5, 1993.  Final federal regulations under
the new act went into effect on April 6, 1995.

@IF000xx]The new law does not directly affect a company that has no
@IF000xx]employees, such as @NAME.
@IF000xx]
@IF001xx]The new family leave law does not directly affect your firm,
@IF001xx]as @NAME has only one employee.
@IF001xx]
@IF049xx]Your business, with only @EMP employees, is exempt from the
@IF049xx]new Family and Medical Leave Act.
@IF049xx]
The new law generally applies to employers (including most
non-profit entities) with 50 or more employees during 20 or
more calendar workweeks during the current or preceding
calendar year.  Specifically, the final Department of Labor
regulations provide that the family leave rules apply to
all employees within 75 miles (by the most direct surface
route) of a worksite, if there are more than 50 employees
of the company at such worksite.

(In the case of a temporary employment agency, temporary
employees employed by such a firm must be allocated to the
office site where their work was assigned, thus making it
irrelevant as to whether their temporary work assignment
with a client is within 75 miles of the temp firm's office.)

The impact of this law is such that companies that employ
about half of all employees in the U.S. are now subject to
the family leave law requirements, according to employee
benefit experts.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides that
covered employers are required to:

  . Offer their employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave after
    the birth or adoption of a child or to care for a
    child, spouse, or parent with a "serious health
    condition", or for an employee's own serious health
    condition;

  . Maintain health care coverage for an employee who is
    on a leave of absence as described above; and

  . Guarantee that employees will be able to return to
    either the same job or to a comparable position
    after the leave.

  . Post a notice, which may be obtained from the U.S.
    Department of Labor -- Wage and Hour Division,
    explaining the rights of employees under the Family
    and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

A "serious health condition" is defined under the federal
regulations as a condition involving hospitalization
or other institutionalization or continuing treatment
by a health care provider.  It generally only applies
to a health condition that lasts more than three days,
except that this requirement is waived for an employee
whose serious health condition involves an intermittently
incapacitating chronic condition, such as asthma or diabetes
(even if individual episodes do not last over three days
or require a visit to a health care provider).  However,
conditions such as common colds, flu, earaches, migraines,
and the like are defined as NOT being "serious health
conditions."

The employer may ask for verification of a serious health
condition and may, at its expense, seek a second or even a
third medical opinion if desired.  An employee is required
to provide the employer 30 days' notice for foreseeable
leaves of absence for a birth, adoption, or planned medical
treatment.  The employer may contact the employee's health
care provider to seek clarification of information provided,
but not to request additional information, under the final
regulations.

One major exception to the law's coverage is a provision
that exempts certain "key" employees from coverage.  For
this purpose, "key employees" are defined as the most highly
paid 10% of the employer's work force and those whose leave
of absence would cause significant economic harm to the
employer.  Also exempted from the law's provisions are
employees who haven't worked at least one year and who
have not worked at least 1250 hours, or 25 hours a week,
in the preceding 12 months.

Employers are given the option of substituting an employee's
accrued PAID leave for any part of the 12-week period of
family leave.  Similarly, if any employee is entitled to
sick leave, an employer may require the employee to count
such sick leave as part of the 12-week leave period if the
reason for the leave is the employee's or family illness.
(The sick leave would have to be allowable for nonemployee
illness in order to count it as part of the 12-week leave
period, in the case of illness of a family member other
than the employee -- some companies provide sick leave
only for the employee's own illness.)

@CODE: AL AK AZ AR CO DE FL GA ID IL IN IA KS KY LA MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NB NV NH NM NY NC ND OH OK PA SC SD TN TX UT VA WV WY
While a number of states have adopted their own, usually
more restrictive, family leave laws, there is no such
provision as yet under @STATE law.
@CODE:EN
@CODE: CT DC ME NJ RI VT WA WS
@STATE FAMILY LEAVE REQUIREMENT

Several states have adopted their own, separate family leave
laws, which employers must adhere to as well as the federal
family and medical leave provisions.  One of the jurisdictions
with its own family leave law is @STATE.
@CODE:EN
@CODE: OR
            OREGON FAMILY LEAVE REQUIREMENT

Several states have adopted their own, separate family leave
laws.  One of the jurisdictions with its own family leave
law is @STATE.

The Oregon family medical leave law is similar to the
federal, and applies to companies with 50 or more employees.
However, there are some differences between the two laws,
and an Oregon employer must, therefore, conform its family
leave policies to both sets of laws.
@CODE:OF
@CODE: CA
CALIFORNIA FAMILY LEAVE REQUIREMENT

As usual, Congress seems to have been following in the
footsteps of the California legislature, which had recently
adopted its own family leave law.

Effective since January 1, 1992, California businesses
that employ 50 or more workers are required to grant
unpaid leaves of absence to employees with new children --
whether newborn or adopted -- or for the purpose of caring
for a sick child, parent, or spouse.  The California
Family Rights Act of 1991 provides for leaves of up to 16
weeks every two years.  Employees already entitled to 4
months of pregnancy leave under California law may take
an additional month to care for a newborn child.

Under the Family Rights Act, if need for such a leave is
foreseeable, the employee must give the employer reasonable
advance notice and, where possible, must make reasonable
efforts to schedule the leave to avoid disruption of the
employer's operations.  An employer may require, or the
employee may choose, to apply accrued vacation or other
accrued paid or unpaid leave time to the family leave.
Employees may NOT use sick leave during the leave period
unless both the employer and employee agree to it.

During the period an employee is taking family leave, he or
she is entitled to continue to participate in health plans,
retirement plans and supplemental unemployment benefit
plans of the employer, if any; but the employer may require
the employee to pay health insurance premiums at the group
rate and need not contribute to retirement plans for the
employee during the leave period.

Upon returning from such a leave, the employee is entitled
to the same or a comparable position as prior to the leave.

An employer is not required to grant leave in certain
situations, such as the following:

   . where the child's other parent is also taking
     family leave or is not employed;

   . where the employee is one of the five highest paid
     employees, or among the top 10% of employee