Series 4000: District Employment

This Policy will be interpreted and applied consistent with the FMLA, as amended, and its regulations. This Policy should not be interpreted to conflict with an applicable collective bargaining agreement where the collective bargaining agreement provides rights or obligations beyond those conferred by FMLA and that are not prohibited by FMLA.

A. Qualifying for FMLA Leave

1. Employee Eligibility

              a. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must:

                  i. have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement                        of the leave (full-time instructional employees are presumed to meet the 1,250 hour requirement);

                 ii. have completed 12 months (cumulative) of work for the District before the commencement of the leave.                           This includes non-consecutive intervals of employment with the District occurring up to 7 years before the                       commencement of the FMLA leave; and

                iii. make the request at a time when the District has 50 or more employees at, or within 75 miles of, the                                worksite.

              b. The applicable 12-month period to determine an employee’s entitlement to FMLA leave (i.e., the FMLA leave year) is: a “rolling” 12-month period measured backward from when the FMLA leave would An eligible employee taking FMLA leave to care for a covered service member or veteran with a serious injury or illness is allowed to take up to 26 work weeks of leave in a single 12-month period measured forward from the date the employee first takes leave. 

2. Qualifying Events

              a.  An eligible employee may take FMLA leave, up to a total of 12 work weeks, during any 12-month period for                     any one or more of the following:

                  i. have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement                         of the leave (full-time instructional employees are presumed to meet the 1,250 hour requirement);

                 ii. the employee’s care for a newly adopted child or child placed in the employee’s home for foster care;

                 iii. to care for a spouse, child (who is younger than age 18, or over 18 but incapable of self-care), or a parent                       (but not parent-in-law) who has a serious health condition;

                 iv. the employee’s own serious health condition; or

                  v. a qualifying military exigency about an employee, the employee’s spouse, child (regardless of age), or                              parent.

             b.  An eligible employee may take up to 26 work weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member who is receiving medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, or is in outpatient status, or is on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness. The employee must be the spouse, child, parent (regardless of their child’s age), or next of kin of the covered service member. This subsection applies to veterans of the Armed Services who suffered an injury or illness, or aggravated an injury or illness, in the line of duty on active duty if the veteran was a member of the Armed Forces at any time during the 5 years before receiving treatment.

3. Limitations on FMLA Leave

              a. The entitlement to leave for the birth of a child or placement of a child with an employee for the purposes of adoption or foster care expires at the end of the 12-month period beginning on the date of the birth or placement, and these circumstances do not qualify for intermittent or reduced schedule leave. 

              b. Concerning spouses who are both employed by the District, and both eligible for FMLA leave, they are limited to a combined total of 12 work weeks of FMLA leave for the birth or placement, or related care, of a child for adoption or foster care with the employees or the care of a parent with a serious health condition. This limitation does not apply to the care of a spouse or child with a serious health condition or to an employee’s own serious health condition. 

               c. Concerning the entitlement to 26 work weeks of leave to care for a covered service member with a serious illness or injury, the 26 work week allotment may include other reasons for FMLA leave authorized by the Act. But in that allotment, an employee is not entitled to more than 12 work weeks of leave for reasons unrelated to the care for a covered service member with a serious illness or injury.

               d. Concerning spouses who are both employed by the District, and both eligible for FMLA leave to care for a covered service member, they are limited to a combined total of 26 work weeks of leave for all leaves authorized by the Act during the 12-month period commencing with FMLA leave to care for a covered service member. The spouses are subject to the 12 work week limitation for leave related to the birth or placement, or related care, of a child for adoption or foster care with the employees or the care of a parent with a serious health condition.

B. FMLA Notice

1. An employee must give the District notice of FMLA leave as follows:

             a. When the need for FMLA leave is foreseeable (e.g., for the birth of a child, placement for adoption or foster care, or planned medical treatment), 30 calendar days’ notice is required. If the employee fails to give 30 calendar days’ notice with no reasonable excuse, the District reserves the right to deny or to delay the employee’s FMLA leave. If the FMLA leave is for planned medical treatment, the employee must make reasonable efforts to schedule treatment so as not to unduly disrupt the District’s operations. 

             b. When the need for FMLA leave is unexpected, the employee must provide notice to the District as soon as practicable.

2. For both foreseeable and unexpected leave, employees must comply with District Policies, work rules, collective bargaining agreement provisions, and customary absence reporting procedures. Failure to comply with these requirements may be grounds to delay or deny the employee’s FMLA leave request and may result in discipline.

3. Absent extenuating circumstances, within 5 work days after an employee requests FMLA leave or the District has reasonable information that an employee may qualify for FMLA leave, the District will provide to the employee a copy of this Policy and the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) “Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities” DOL Form WH-381 (as updated). 

4. Once the District receives sufficient notice, including any requested medical certification (see below), that an employee’s leave qualifies as FMLA leave, the District will, absent extenuating circumstances, within 5 work days, notify the employee in writing whether the leave is designated as FMLA leave using DOL Form WH-382 (as updated).

C. Certification

1. If an employee requests FMLA leave due to the employee’s serious health condition or to care for a parent, child, or spouse with a serious health condition, the employee must provide medical certification from a health care provider of the serious health condition involved and, if applicable, verification that the employee is needed to care for the family member and the expected duration of the leave. Employees requesting leave for a qualifying exigency or leave to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness must provide the appropriate certification. The District will provide the employee with the appropriate DOL form applicable to the employee’s requested leave.

2. Employees must return the requested certification within 15 calendar days after the request. The District may delay or deny FMLA leave if submission of the certification is not timely.

3. Failure or refusal to provide requested medical certification within 15 calendar days may result in denial of the leave being designated as FMLA leave.

4. If an employee provides an incomplete or insufficient certification, the District will advise the employee, in writing, of the deficiencies and what additional information is needed. An employee must return the requested additional information within 7 calendar days. The District, but not the employee’s direct supervisor, may contact an employee’s health care provider for clarification or authentication of a certification. The District may not contact the employee’s health care provider if a complete and sufficient certification, signed by the health care provider, is submitted.

5. If the District has reason to doubt the medical certification an employee submits, the District may require, at its expense, that the employee obtain a second opinion from a health care provider of the District’s choice. If the second opinion differs, the District may require, at its expense, that a third opinion be obtained from a health care provider who is mutually selected by the employee and the District. The third medical certification will be final and binding on both parties. If the employee refuses to be examined by the third health care provider, the employee will be bound by the second opinion. The District may not request a second opinion for leave to care for a covered service member or veteran with a serious injury or illness.

The District may request recertification consistent with FMLA regulations. Recertification will be at the employee’s expense.

The District may request recertification in less than 30 calendar days if: an employee requests an extension of FMLA leave; circumstances stated in the prior certification have changed significantly; or the District receives information that casts doubt upon the employee’s stated reason for the absence or the certification’s validity.

D. Concurrent Leave and Substitution of Paid Leave

FMLA leave provided to employees is unpaid, unless the employee has applicable paid leave. Applicable paid leave (e.g., sick, personal, business, vacation, paid time off, leave under Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act (MPMLA), or workers’ compensation) will run concurrently with FMLA leave at the election of either the District or the employee. The ability to use paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave is subject to compliance with the procedures and conditions normally associated with the paid leave. A medical leave of absence covered by workers’ compensation runs concurrently with FMLA leave and consistent with an applicable individual employment contract or collective bargaining agreement. FMLA leave beyond an employee’s applicable accrued paid leave is unpaid.

E. Intermittent and Reduced Schedule Leave

1. Eligible employees may take FMLA leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule when leave is taken to care for a family member with a serious health condition, for an employee’s own serious health condition, because of a qualifying exigency, or to care for a covered service member or veteran, an eligible employee may take leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule when medically necessary.

2. intermittent or reduced schedule leave will not result in a reduction in the employee’s total amount of leave beyond the amount of leave actually taken. Intermittent and reduced schedule FMLA leave will be accounted for in the shortest increment used to account for leave generally within the employee’s classification.

Employees must follow the District’s absence reporting procedures when using intermittent leave.

3. When an instructional employee seeks to take intermittent or reduced schedule leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition, to care for a covered service member or veteran, or for the employee’s own serious health condition which is foreseeable based on planned medical treatment, and the employee would be on leave for more than 20% of the total number of work days over the leave period, the District may either require the employee to take leave on a full-time basis for the duration of the requested intermittent or reduced schedule leave or temporarily transfer the employee to an alternate position with equivalent pay and benefits.

4. If an eligible employee requests intermittent or reduced schedule leave for a foreseeable medical treatment, including during a period of recovery from a serious health condition, the District may require the employee to transfer temporarily to an available alternate position for which the employee is qualified and which better accommodates recurring periods of leave than the employee’s regular position. The alternate position must have equivalent pay and benefits as the employee’s regular position.

F. Group Health Plan Benefits

1. Eligible employees are generally entitled to the continuation of District provided group health plan benefits while on FMLA leave. Group health plan benefits include medical, dental, and optical insurance coverages in which the employee is enrolled at the time that FMLA leave is taken

2. The District will continue paying its portion, if any, of the employee’s group health plan costs and insurance premiums or representative premiums while the employee is on FMLA leave and in accordance with any applicable collective bargaining or individual employment contract. Any share or portion of the group health plan costs, insurance premiums, or representative premiums paid by the employee before FMLA leave must continue to be paid by the employee during FMLA leave. See DOL Form WH-381. An employee’s failure to pay his/her portion of group health plan costs, insurance premiums, or representative premiums during FMLA leave may result in loss of coverage if the employee’s contribution is more than 30 calendar days late. The District will provide the employee with written notice at least 15 calendar days before cancelling the employee’s coverage because of a failure to make employee contributions.

3. As addressed in subsection I below, an employee who fails to voluntarily return to work after FMLA leave may be required to repay the District for his/her group health plan benefit costs.

G. Return to Work

1. At the expiration date of an employee’s FMLA leave, the employee will be returned to that employee’s former position or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions. An employee taking FMLA leave has no greater right to reinstatement than if the employee had been continuously employed during the FMLA leave period. 

2. If an employee was unable to renew a license or certification because of FMLA leave and is no longer qualified for the employee’s former position, the District will provide the employee reasonable time, on unpaid status, to fulfill the necessary return to work conditions. 

3. Instructional Employees

             a. “Instructional” employees are those whose principal function is to teach and instruct students in a class, small group, or individual setting.

             b. If an instructional employee begins FMLA leave more than 5 weeks before the end of a term or semester, the District may require the employee to take FMLA leave until the end of the term or semester if the FMLA leave is to last at least 3 weeks and the employee would return to work during the 3-week period before the end of the term or semester.

             c. If an instructional employee begins FMLA leave during the 5-week period before the end of a term or semester because of the birth or placement for adoption or foster care of a child, to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, or to care for a covered service member or veteran, the District may require that FMLA leave be taken until the end of the term or semester if the instructional employee would return to work during the 2-week period immediately before the end of the term or semester and the leave is to last more than 2 weeks.

             d. If an instructional employee begins FMLA leave during the 3-week period before the end of a term or semester because of the birth or placement for adoption or foster care of a child, to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, or to care for a covered service member or © 2020 veteran, the District may require the employee to take FMLA leave until the end of the term or semester, if the leave will last more than five (5) work days.

             e. Any additional FMLA leave required of an instructional employee by the District will not count against the employee’s allotment of FMLA leave. 

4. Fitness for Duty

The District may require that an employee returning from FMLA leave submit a fitness-for-duty certification from a health care provider which addresses the employee’s ability to return to work and perform the essential functions of the employee’s position. The District must provide the employee with notice of the requirement to provide a fitness-for-duty certification and the essential functions of the employee’s position when the District provides the employee the designation of FMLA leave notice (DOL Form WH-382, as updated). If the employee fails to submit the fitness-for-duty certification in a timely manner, return from FMLA leave may be delayed by the District. The employee may be terminated if he/she fails to submit the fitness-for-duty certification.

5. Unless a collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise, an employee on unpaid FMLA leave is not entitled to accrue seniority, employment benefits (other than medical insurance), or any benefit conditioned on length of service or work performed.

H. Denial of Key Employee Restoration

1. The District reserves the right to deny restoration to the same or equivalent position to any eligible employee who is a key employee, meaning any employee who is paid a salary and is in the highest paid 10% of employees. The District may deny restoration if necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to the District’s operations. If the District intends to deny restoration to a key employee, it will:

               a. use DOL Form WH-381, as updated, to notify the employee of his/her status as a key employee in response to the employee’s request for FMLA leave and provide the employee with an explanation of the consequences for the employee if the District determines that substantial and grievous injury will result to its operations if the employee is reinstated after FMLA leave

              b. notify the employee, in person or by certified mail, as soon as the District decides it will deny restoration and the reasons for the denial

              c. offer the employee a reasonable opportunity to return to work from FMLA leave after giving this notice; 

              d. make a final determination as to whether reinstatement will be denied at the end of the leave period if the employee then requests restoration; and

              e. the District must maintain its group health plan cost, contributions, premium, or representative premium contributions for the employee’s group health plan benefits for the entire term of the employee’s FMLA leave, even after giving the employee notice that restoration will be denied.

I. Failure to Return to Work 

1. An employee’s unexcused failure to return to work upon expiration of FMLA leave will subject the employee to discharge unless the District grants an extension of leave as required by law or under a collective bargaining agreement, employee handbook, or individual employment contract. An employee who requests an extension of leave due to the continuation, recurrence, or onset of the employee’s serious health condition, or the serious health condition of the employee’s spouse, child, parent, or covered service member or veteran, must submit to the employee’s supervisor a written request for an extension. This written request must be made as soon as possible before the expiration of the employee’s FMLA leave. Medical certification or recertification will be required to support any request for leave extension.

2. If an employee is unable to perform the essential functions of the position or an equivalent position at the end of FMLA leave, the District will comply with ADA requirements, as applicable.

3. If an employee fails to return to work after his/her FMLA leave expires, the employee must reimburse the District for any group health plan costs, contributions, premiums, and representative premiums that the District paid for continuation of the employee’s group health benefits coverage during FMLA leave, unless the employee does not return due to: (a) the continuation, recurrence, or onset of the serious health condition which entitled the employee to FMLA leave and the employee provides the District with sufficient certification from the proper health care provider of the continuation, recurrence, or onset of the serious health condition; or (b) other circumstances beyond the employee’s control. This provision does not apply to any group health plan cost, insurance premium, or representative premium contributions made by the District for periods during which the employee used paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave.

J. Recordkeeping

1. The District will maintain the following records related to FMLA requests and use:

         a. basic payroll information;

         b. dates (or hours) during which eligible employees take FMLA leave;

         c. copies of all notices, requests, and other documents related to FMLA leave;

         d. copies of documents evidencing group health plan cost contributions, insurance premium, and representative premium payments made by the District on behalf of an eligible employee on FMLA leave; and

         e. documents related to disputes about eligibility or designation of FMLA leave.

2. Medical certifications and other medical documentation related to FMLA leave will be maintained in a separate, confidential file from an employee’s personnel file. See Policy 4224.

K. Notice to Employees

The District will post the appropriate notice of rights poster in a location easily seen by employees and include a general notice of employee FMLA rights in applicable employee handbooks or by providing employees notice at their time of hire.

Legal authority: 29 USC 2601 et seq.; 29 CFR 825.100 et seq.

Date adopted: 08/09/2021

Date revised: