UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PROCEDURE 07-07-02
CATEGORY: PERSONNEL
SECTION: Employee Leave Benefits
SUBJECT: Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act for Staff
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 1, 2008 Revised
PAGE(S): 4
I. PURPOSE
To provide the steps for applying for leave under the Family and
Medical Leave Act, determining eligibility, and establishing FMLA
recordkeeping guidelines for individual schools and departments.
II. SCOPE
This procedure applies to all staff employees on all campuses of
the University. It includes both intermittent leaves and block
leaves for conditions defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act
of 1993, as amended (the "Act"). It does not apply to sick time
or sick/family obligation time that does not meet the definition
of serious health condition as defined by the Act.
III. DEFINITIONS
The following terms are defined by the Family and Medical Leave
Act.
Eligible employee includes all regular full- and part-time
employees who have worked for the University for at least 12
months and have been employed at least 1,250 hours during the
12-month period.
Rolling Year is a 12-month period measured backward from the
date the staff member requests leave. Each eligible staff member
is entitled to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA leave per rolling
year for family leave, medical leave, or up to 26 weeks per year
during a single 12-month period for servicemember family leave.
Family Leave is an unpaid leave granted for the birth, adoption, or care
of a newborn child or placement of a foster child with the staff
member.
Medical Leave is an unpaid leave granted to care for a seriously
ill family member or because of the staff member's own serious
health condition. Medical leave may be used on an intermittent
basis.
Covered servicemember means a member of the Armed Forces, including
a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing
medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in
out-patient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability
retired list, for a serious injury or illness.
Serious health condition or illness refers to an illness, injury,
impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves:
- any period of incapacity or treatment connected with
inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay in a hospital,
hospice, or residential medical care facility);
- any period of incapacity requiring absence of more than
three consecutive calendar days from work, school, or other
regular daily activities that also involves continuing
treatment by or under the supervision of a health care
provider; or
- continuing treatment by or under the supervision of a health
care provider for a chronic or long-term health condition
that is incurable or so serious that, if untreated, would
likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three
consecutive calendar days, and for prenatal care.
Servicemember family leave is an unpaid leave granted during a
single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember if
the staff member is the spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of
kin to the covered servicemember.
Family members include parents, biological or adopted children,
or spouse. The term parent refers to a biological, foster or
adoptive parent, a stepparent, or legal guardian. For medical
leave, the term child means a biological, adopted, or foster
child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing
in loco parentis, who is under age 18 or age 18 or older and
"incapable of self-care" as defined pursuant to FMLA regulations.
Health Care Provider includes doctors of medicine or osteopathy,
podiatrists, dentists, clinical psychologists, optometrists,
chiropractors, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives authorized
to practice under state law; and Christian Science practitioners
listed with the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston,
Massachusetts.
Equivalent position is a position having the same pay, benefits,
working conditions, and substantially similar duties and
responsibilities and entails substantially equivalent skill,
effort, responsibility, and authority.
Key employees are salaried employees who are among the highest
paid ten percent of all University employees within 75 miles of
the individual employee's worksite. Position reinstatement
rights may not be available to key employees in certain
circumstances as defined by the Act.
IV. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
The Office of Human Resources is responsible for administering
benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act including,
providing information, upon request, concerning staff member
rights and responsibilities; determining eligibility; and
processing the necessary paperwork to ensure continuation of
benefits. The Office of Human Resources has designated a third
party provider to fulfill the administrative functions for
leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
School or Department Administrators are responsible for:
- Processing the necessary payroll action forms to initiate
the paid or unpaid leave
- Maintaining all time records concerning family and medical
leaves, paid and unpaid
- Ensuring that staff members comply with the requirement to
initiate leave by contacting the University's third party
provider.
V. PROCEDURE
Applying for Unpaid Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Staff Member 1. Notify the school or
department of the need for
FMLA leave at least 30 days
in advance of the first day
of the leave.
a. In cases in which the
nature of the condition
or illness makes the need
for leave unforeseeable,
notify the departmental
administrator of need for
leave as soon as
practicable.
School/Department 2. Consult with the Office of
Human Resources if necessary
to ascertain whether the
requested leave meets the
criteria for FMLA leave and to
verify whether the staff member
meets the definition of "eligible
employee." See Section III,
Definitions.
3. Direct the staff member to contact
the University's third party provider
when a staff member has had a
period of incapacity for more than
three consecutive calendar days,
or when the staff member has
identified a need for leave.
Staff Member 4. Contact the third party provider
and complete the required
certification or verification
forms.
Office of Human
Resources through the
third party provider 5. Determine whether the leave
should be counted as approved
FMLA leave.
6. If the staff member is
eligible and the requested
leave meets the criteria for
FMLA leave, provide the staff
member with an FMLA rights
package.
7. Upon receipt of certification or
verification, advise the staff
member and the department whether
the eligibility requirement and
the criteria for a family or
medical leave are met.
8. If the reason for the
requested time off meets the
criteria for FMLA leave, notify
the staff member that the time
off will count toward the FMLA
leave allowance based on the
rolling year criterion defined
in Section III.
9. Advise the staff member that
the University will continue
medical insurance benefits,
and provide information
regarding maintenance of other
benefits. (See Policy 07-07-
02.)
NOTE: Medical benefits are
continued on the same basis as
the staff member enjoyed on
active status and, where
appropriate, the staff member
will be invoiced by the
University for his share of
the health insurance premium.
10. If the conditions for FMLA leave
are not met, inform the staff
member and the department of
the reasons.
Recordkeeping for Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
School/Department
Administrator 1. If the reason for the requested
time off meets the criteria for
family or medical leave, record
the time off as FMLA leave on
FORM 0099, Staff Time Record.
2. For paid or unpaid leave,
process the Employee Record
(ER) to document the dates of
the leave and deduct the time
off from the staff member's
FMLA allowance.
a. For continuous leaves,
complete and process the
staff member's Employee
Record (ER) and submit to
Compensation with a copy of
the staff member's time
record.
b. For intermittent leaves
an Employee Record (ER)
should only be submitted if
the employee does not have
sufficient paid time off to
cover the leave. Note the
days that need to be docked
in the remarks section.
Review the monthly tracking
form, which the staff member
received from the third party
provider, with the staff
member to ensure accuracy,
sign and return to the third
party provider.
Return to Work
School/Department
Administrator 1. Upon return from a family
or medical leave, reinstate
the staff member to the former
or equivalent position as
defined by the Family and
Medical Leave Act. See
Section III, Definitions. If
necessary to restore the staff
member to active status,
complete an Employee Record
to change the assignment status
to active and note the last day
of paid/unpaid leave. Notify the
third party provider of the staff
member's return to work.
VI. REFERENCES
Policy 07-07-02, Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act for Staff
Policy 07-04-01, Time Records/Attendance/Overtime and Compensatory Time