ARE YOU ENTITLED TO UNPAID LEAVE?

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave a year, and requires health benefits to be maintained during the leave. Employees are also entitled to return to their same or an equivalent job at the end of their FMLA leave.

In order to be eligible to take leave under the FMLA, an employee must:
– have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of leave
– work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles, and
– have worked for the employer for 12 months. The 12 months of employment are not required to be consecutive in order for the employee to qualify for FMLA leave.

A covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons:
– for the birth of a son or daughter, and to bond with the newborn child,
– for the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care, and to bond with that child,
– to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent – but not a parent “in-law”) with a serious health condition,
– to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition, or
– for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status as a member of the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces.

The FMLA also allows eligible employees to take up to 26 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a “single 12-month period” to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.

The Law Offices of Payab & Associates is a Los Angeles based law firm with more than 17 years of experience in employment cases. Our office has successfully litigated many complex disputes including wrongful termination, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, wage and labor disputes, and retaliation cases.

Questions about your rights at the workplace? Contact the Law Offices of Payab & Associates @ (818) 918-5522 or visit http://employmentlawyersla.com/