Unpaid FMLA Leave

[700AW]

FMLA states that at the dicretion of a company they may allow accrued balances of sick, vacation, pto, or any other form of paid absevce to run concurrent with fmla.
FMLA is basically for employees who do not have a company policy, i.e. cba that strictly addresses FMLA. if an employee has a cba or other company policy that is set that covers these kinds of issues then the FMLA may not have much to do with it
for example.. a married couple that works for the same company may take FMLA for the birth of a child, but it is only capped at 12 weeks total for both, not 12 weeks for each. that is the FMLA law, now if the company wanted to allow each of the couple 12 weeks a piece, the FMLA would not matter
alas a man can take up to 12 weeks FMLA unpaid for the birth of a child as a "bonding time time" or to care for mama if she needed a c-section etc... company policy and the cba does not allow for this only o the extent of the FMLA guarntees

 

[deltawatch]

Okay I have posted the DOL text and here is the CWA contract text. My questions is do I have to use my vacation first or can I use my sick leave first when caring for a family member? I clearly have to use both before going unpaid?? I don't think it address the issue. What is the company policy guide book that is being mentioned?



CWA CONTRACT

Article 17 – Leaves of Absence

A. Employees will be eligible for leaves of absences described in this article. Such leaves will be administered in accordance with Company policy. The terms and conditions of the leave must be described in writing and provided to the employee at the onset of the leave.

B. Family Medical Leave: Employees will be eligible for leave from work pursuant to the terms of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. Prior to being placed on an unpaid leave for approved FMLA, the employee must exhaust all paid leave, including accrued vacation.

C. Medical Leave: An employee unable to work due to personal illness or injury, physical disability or pregnancy may apply for a medical leave of absence, using the Company-specified form. The Company may require such leave to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave if such leave otherwise qualifies as FMLA leave. Such application must be accompanied by a physician's explanation of the condition, physical limitations, prognosis for recovery and the length of time the employee will be out of work. Approved leaves will be for a period of not more than ninety (90) days. Extensions of ninety (90) day increments will be considered when accompanied by the required documentation. Any employee who remains on leave status in excess of three (3) years shall be deemed to have resigned his position, and shall be removed from the seniority roster.

D. Personal Leave: A request for a personal leave of absence shall be considered on its merits, and balanced against the needs of the service. The Company may require such leave to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave if such leave otherwise qualifies as FMLA leave. Application for such leave will be made on the Company-specified form. Such leave of absence, if granted, will be for a period of not more than ninety (90) days. Subject to the same criteria, the employee may be eligible for one (1) ninety (90) day extension.

E. Adoption/Maternity Leave: An employee may request an unpaid adoption/maternity leave of absence of up to eight (8) weeks, and for any additional period that may be required by local adoption laws. Adoption leave will commence on the date the employee takes custody of the child or the date the child is placed in the employee’s home. Maternity leave will commence on the day the infant is born. The Company may require adoption/maternity leave to run concurrently with FMLA (if such leave otherwise qualifies as FMLA leave), and/or paid Sick Leave, and/or unpaid absence. If the employee has exhausted 40
75 or exhausts FMLA and/or Sick Leave time prior to or during this eight (8) week period, the Company will grant Adoption/Maternity leave of up to, but no more than, eight (8) total weeks from the birth or adoption of the child unless an additional period is required by local adoption laws.

F. Jury Duty: Employees will be granted time away from work for jury duty, when such event is documented by submission of a court notice. The employee will receive the difference between his regular pay and the actual payment received for jury duty (excluding expense reimbursement). Employees must provide proof of jury duty service and verification of the amount of payment received to the Payroll Department immediately upon receipt of jury duty payment. Employees assigned to jury duty will not be required to report for work on any day that the jury duty work requires more than two (2) hours at the courthouse. While serving on jury duty, should the employee be released within two (2) hours of reporting for such duty, he will be required to report for work to complete the remainder of his shift for the day. Employees will remain on their normal shift and scheduled days off, except when jury duty extends beyond five (5) calendar days. In these instances, scheduled days off will be reassigned to Saturday and Sunday for the duration of the jury duty.

G. Military Leave: Employees will be permitted unpaid leave from the Company for military service for a period not to exceed five (5) years unless involuntarily detained for a longer period. Terms and conditions of the leave, and the return to duty, will be those established by law. Employees will receive a maximum of ten (10) paid working days off within a fourteen (14) calendar day period in a calendar year for reservist training that will not count against the employee’s vacation. The Company will pay the employee the difference between his regular pay, excluding shift premium, and the amount received from the military. Employees will be required to provide the company with a copy of their reserve training ordersand will be required to submit to the Company proof of the amount of pay received from the military within seven (7) days after the employee returns. This amount (excluding expenses) will be deducted from the employee’s next pay check.

H. Bereavement Leave: Employees on active pay status, upon providing proper documentation, shall be allowed three (3) work days off without loss of pay if they suffer a death in their immediate family. Immediate family for the purposes of this paragraph shall include: father or step- father (one only), mother or step-mother (one only), spouse, child, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, the employee’s grandparents, or any legal dependent residing in the employee’s household.

I. Full-time Employment Union Leave: Employees accepting full-time employment with the Union shall, during such employment, be granted an indefinite unpaid leave of absence by the Company. There shall not be more than ten (10) employees on full-time union leave at any one time. Employees granted unpaid leaves under these provisions will:

1. Continue to accrue Date of Hire, Passenger Service and Pay Date seniority.

2. Be eligible to continue all employee health and insurance benefits by reimbursing the Company for the Company’s costs and administrative fees for those benefits. Such employees will not accrue Vacation, Sick Leave or Holidays. 3. Be awarded an available position within the group and classification upon return from union leave.

4. Employees on such leave shall receive on-line non-revenue travel benefits and interline travel benefits consistent with OA travel policies for personal use only.

J. Short Term Union Leave (30 days or less): Unpaid leave for short durations are subject to Company approval and will be granted based on the needs of service. Requests for Short Term Union Leave by the union, must be submitted in writing to the Director of Labor Relations, or his designee, a minimum of seven (7) days prior to the effective leave date and must include the absence dates and the reason for the leave. K. An employee on any leave of absence who engages in other employment (other than that described in paragraphs G., I. and J. of this article) and/or uses the time of a leave for purposes other than that for which it was granted without specific written consent from the Company or does not provide management with current information as to their status upon request or does not return upon completion of the approved leave, will be deemed to have resigned and his name will be stricken from the seniority roster.

Article 18 – Sick Leave 1

A. Employees earn one sick leave day per calendar month for the months of February, April, June, August, and October, up to a maximum of five (5) sick leave days per year. Effective December 31, 2011, employees earn one sick leave day per calendar month up to a maximum of twelve (12) days per year. There will be a maximum accrual cap of one hundred seventy-five (175) days in an employee’s sick leave bank. To be eligible for sick leave accrual for the month, an employee must be on active pay status for the majority of days in the calendar month. This article does not apply to employees on furlough status.

1. For full-time employees a sick day will be eight (8) hours of sick leave to be used in accordance with Paragraph B below.

2. For part-time employees a sick day will be used in accordance with paragraph B below. Accrued sick leave is used to compensate employees for absences due to personal illness only and not used to supplement statutory benefits for OJI (on the job injuries). Effective 12/31/2011 accrued sick leave may be used to compensate employees for absences due to personal illness, including supplements to statutory benefits for OJI.

B. The first 3 sick days used from January 6, 2005 through June 30, 2005 will be paid at 50% and decremented at a 50% rate. Thereafter, the first 5 sick days used (beginning July 1st of each year) are paid at 50% of the employee's scheduled hours and decremented at a 50% rate. Effective 12/31/2011 all sick days used are paid at 100% and decremented at a 100% rate.

1. Full-time employees use sick leave in increments of full hours. The use of sick leave may be recorded in increments of one-tenth (1/10) of an hour if the technology utilized permits tracking in less than hourly increments.

2. Part-time employees using sick leave for absences will use the following chart when converting pay hours to the number of days to be deducted from his sick bank:Number of pay hours Number of days deducted Less than 3 hours 0.5 day 3 to 6 hours 1.0 day. More than 6 but less than 9 hours 1.5 days 9 to less than 12 hours 2.0 days 12 to less than 15 hours 2.5 days 15 to less than 18 hours 3.0 days 3. Notwithstanding Paragraph B.2 above, part-time employees with regularly scheduled shifts of less than three (3) hours will have one (1) sick leave day deducted from their sick leave bank when absent for their regularly scheduled shift.

C. An employee reporting off work sick is required to notify his supervisor (or designee) and disclose the nature of the unscheduled absence as far in advance as possible, but no later than one hour prior to their shift start time. Local policy may be less restrictive as determined by the Company. Employees will not be compensated when unscheduled absences are not reported within the established timeframes.

D. Employees may be required to present confirmation of illness and the Company reserves the right to require, when in doubt of bona fide claim, a physician’s certificate to confirm such sick claim.

E. Employees are required to exhaust all paid leave prior to being placed on unpaid medical leave for non OJI( and non-FMLA), and are required to exhaust all paid leave, including accrued vacation, for non-OJI approved FMLA prior to being placed on unpaid medical leave. Employees may not use sick leave to supplement OJI medical leave but must use accrued vacation for FMLA OJI and may use accrued vacation for non-FMLA OJI.

F. The employee’s current Catastrophic Bank, if any, will be converted to sick leave on the effective date of this article. Employees who have more than one hundred seventy-five (175) days in their catastrophic bank to be converted to sick leave days will maintain the higher amount and will not accrue sick leave days until such time that the employee’s available sick leave bank is reduced below the one hundred seventy-five (175) day maximum cap.

G. Full-time employees transferring to part-time, or displaced to part-time, will have their sick leave converted to part-time days by doubling the balance on the effective date of the transfer. Should this result in an employee having more than one hundred seventy-five (175) days in their sick leave bank, such employee will maintain the higher amount and will not accrue sick leave days until such time that the employee’s available sick leave bank is reduced below the one hundred seventy five (175) day maximum cap. Part-time employees transferring to full-time, or recalled to full-time, will have their sick leave converted to full-time days by multiplying the balance by one-half (1/2) on the effective date of the transfer.

 

[AIRWOMAN]

What is the company policy guide book that is being mentioned?


The company handbook can be found on Compass. I looked but cannot find a copy of it on the Hub.

 

[700AW]

here is the law....

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

from the law, sounds like the cwa may violate the adoption clause

"SEC. 102. LEAVE REQUIREMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.--
(1) ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE.--Subject to section 103, an eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following:
(A) Because of the birth of a son or daughter of the employee and in order to care for such son or daughter.
(B) Because of the placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care.
© In order to care for the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent, of the employee, if such spouse, son, daughter, or parent has a serious health condition.
(D) Because of a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of such employee.
(2) EXPIRATION OF ENTITLEMENT.--The entitlement to leave under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) for a birth or placement of a son or daughter shall expire at the end of the 12-month period beginning on the date of such birth or placement."

 

[deltawatch]

From everything you've read .... Do I have to use my vacation first or can I use my sick leave first when caring for a family member?

 

[700AW]

From everything you've read .... Do I have to use my vacation first or can I use my sick leave first when caring for a family member?

under the law, no, it does not matter, according to the company policy it really doesn't say, you should be able to determine what to use first. keep in mind that the total of 12 weeks is max, 2 weeks paid vacation, 1 week paid sick, up to 9 weeks unpaid fmla.. or what ever might suit your needs. if you only want to use what you have for pay wise, then you don't need the fmla, but file the paperwork to be designated as fmla so iff you need more time

 

[Old PSA]

OK, Try it this way, FMLA is a law that requires employers of a minimum number of employees to provide job protection under certain conditions. The law does not address or provide for pay. FMLA leave is unpaid. The company determines (through policy or union contract) what time off work may be paid or not paid. The term concurrent address the fact that a person could be paid while using sick time and be on FMLA leave at the same time (unpaid). Also, the company must have 50 employees working within 75 miles. A number of US Airways work locations do not meet this requirement and therefore are not covered by FMLA.

 

[Bear96]

From everything you've read .... Do I have to use my vacation first or can I use my sick leave first when caring for a family member?

You would have to find out the company policy (or CBA language, but that seems to point you back to company policy: "Such leaves will be administered in accordance with Company policy") regarding the use of sick leave to take care of a family member.

Others here have indicated that LCC's policy is that you cannot use sick leave to take care of a family member.

 

[delldude]

Under the law and US' policies you CANNOT use sick time for family members under FMLA, only vacation, comp time or unpaid.

I can testify to that personally.....my mother had an illness that qualified me for FMLA....but I could not use sick time for anything regarding her.Only myself with a qualifying problem for me.

 

[PITbull]

FMLA states that at the dicretion of a company they may allow accrued balances of sick, vacation, pto, or any other form of paid absevce to run concurrent with fmla.
FMLA is basically for employees who do not have a company policy, i.e. cba that strictly addresses FMLA. if an employee has a cba or other company policy that is set that covers these kinds of issues then the FMLA may not have much to do with it
for example.. a married couple that works for the same company may take FMLA for the birth of a child, but it is only capped at 12 weeks total for both, not 12 weeks for each. that is the FMLA law, now if the company wanted to allow each of the couple 12 weeks a piece, the FMLA would not matter
alas a man can take up to 12 weeks FMLA unpaid for the birth of a child as a "bonding time time" or to care for mama if she needed a c-section etc... company policy and the cba does not allow for this only o the extent of the FMLA guarntees

FMLA is the MINIMUM federal standards set for unpaid leave. A Corporation of 50 or more employees, whether union or not union can offer better language set as a policy or contract. FMLA regulation provides for "no loss of accrual" meaning sick and vacation accrual while off for your own illness, up to 12 weeks.
And during FMLA leave a company can not eliminate your job or be disadvantaged because you took a qualifying leave. One of the fundemental reasons for the "law" was to protect those employees who needed to take an leave of absence for their own illness or that of a family member, from losing their employment.

If you have questions, call "Hour and Wage". They will tell you exactly what the law allows and the company cannot give you less than what the law provides. If you think you are getting LESS than what the law provides, contact gov. agency "Hour and Wage", and file a complaint. They will investigate.

I know this for a fact.

 

[PITbull]

the company must have 50 employees working within 75 miles. A number of US Airways work locations do not meet this requirement and therefore are not covered by FMLA.

The latter part of your statment is incorrect. The qualifer for FMLA is the min. hours worked in a year and at least 50 employees.

 

[700IAM]

The latter part of your statment is incorrect. The qualifer for FMLA is the min. hours worked in a year and at least 50 employees.

1250 hours exactly

 

[700AW]

1250 hours exactly

no pit is right, if the 50/75 is not met, the 1250 does not matter.

 

[Old PSA]

Actually the 50 employees within 75 miles does apply. A number of our airport locations do not have 50 employees and are not within 75 miles of another US Airways work location. Having gone thru this with medical management in Tempe, the CWA and the state agency charged with administering this, I can attest to it. We missed it my 2 miles.

 

[hula-flyguy]

It's based on company size, not work place size.