Software of the Month Club 1996 May/Software of the Month Club 1996 May.iso/mac/ISO9660/ZIPFILES/SBA962.ZIP/F132.SBE

Text File | 1996-02-15 | 9.3 KB | 211 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 cal-
endar 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 cov-
ered 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 con-
    dition", 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, explain-
    ing 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 in-
capacitating 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 highest-
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 haven't 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 OR 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 jurisdic-
tions with its own family leave law is @STATE.
@CODE:EN
@CODE: CA
CALIFORNIA FAMILY LEAVE REQUIREMENT

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

Effective since January 1, 1992, California businesses
that employ 50 or more workers are required to grant un-
paid 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 situ-
ations, 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 employees, in
     terms of gross salary; or

   . where the leave, if granted, would result in undue
     hardship to the employer's operations.

@CODE:OF
@CODE: HI
HAWAII FAMILY LEAVE REQUIREMENTS

Comprehensive Hawaii legislation (1991), which preceded the
federal family leave law, requires covered companies to pro-
vide a total of 4 weeks per year of "family leave" upon the
birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a child, spouse
or parent with a serious health condition.  The leave can be
paid or unpaid, or a combination of both.  Leave time may
not be accumulated from year to year.  Employees must have
been on the job six months to be eligible for such leave.
The employer or employee may elect to utilize accrued sick
leave or vacation time as part of the mandated family leave.

@IF000HI]The Hawaii family leave law doesn't apply to your company,
@IF000HI]@NAME, since you have no employees.
@IF000HI]
@IF001HI]The Hawaii family leave law doesn't apply to your company,
@IF001HI]@NAME, with only one employee.
@IF001HI]
@IF006HI](It applies only to companies with 100 or more employees.)
@IF049HI]Because your firm has fewer than 50 employees, it isn't sub-
@IF049HI]ject to the Federal family and medical leave requirements.
@IF050HI]Because your firm has 50 or more employees it MAY be subject
@IF050HI]to the Federal family and medical leave law's provisions.
@IF099HI]Note that the Hawaii family leave law only applies to busi-
@IF099HI]nesses with 100 OR MORE employees, and thus does not apply
@IF099HI]to @NAME, which has @EMP employees.
@IF100HI]In addition, you will DEFINITELY be subject to the Hawaii
@IF100HI]law, which applies to businesses with 100 or more employees,
@IF100HI]since @NAME has @EMP employees.

@CODE:OF