Family/Medical Leave (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides eligible employees of covered employers with unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for one or more reasons outlined in the “When Can I Use FMLA Leave?” section.

An eligible employee may also take up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness when the employee is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of the servicemember. An eligible employee is limited to a combined total of 26 workweeks of leave for any FMLA-qualifying reasons during the single 12-month period.

The University defines the twelve (12) month period as a rolling twelve (12) month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave.

You are eligible for FMLA if you:

Have worked for the University for at least 12 months (within the last 7 years) as of the date the FMLA leave is to start, and

Have at least 1,250 hours of service for University during the 12-month period immediately before the date the FMLA leave is to start.

Serious Health Condition

You may take FMLA leave to care for a spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition, or when you are unable to work because of your own serious health condition.

The most common serious health conditions that qualify for FMLA leave are:

• Conditions requiring an overnight stay in a hospital or other medical care facility;
• Conditions that incapacitate the employee or the employee’s family member for more than three consecutive days and require ongoing medical treatment;
• Chronic conditions that cause occasional periods when you or your family member are incapacitated and require treatment by a health care provider at least twice a year; and
• Pregnancy (including prenatal medical appointments, incapacity due to morning sickness, and medically required bed rest).

Military Family Leave

FMLA also provides certain military family leave entitlements. You may take FMLA leave for specified reasons related to certain military deployments. Additionally, you may take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.

Expanding Your Family

You may take FMLA leave for the birth of a child and to bond with the newborn child, or for the placement of a child for adoption or foster care and to bond with that child. Men and women have the same right to take FMLA leave to bond with their child but it must be taken within one year of the child’s birth or placement and must be taken as a continuous block of leave unless the University agrees to allow intermittent leave (for example, a part-time schedule).

Spouses Working for the University

Eligible spouses who work for the University are limited to a combined total of 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period to share for the following FMLA-qualifying reasons:

• The birth of a son or daughter and bonding with the newborn child,
• The placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care, and bonding with the newly-placed child, and
• The care of a parent with a serious health condition.

Eligible spouses who work for the University are also limited to a combined total of 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if each spouse is a parent, spouse, son or daughter, or next of kin of the servicemember (commonly referred to as “military caregiver leave”). This limitation also applies to a combination of military caregiver leave and leave for the other qualifying reasons listed above

Definitions

Parent means a biological, adoptive, step or foster father or mother, or any other individual who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. This term does not include parents-in-law.

Son or daughter (or child) means a biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is either under age 18, or age 18 or older and “incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability” at the time that FMLA leave is to commence.

Spouse means a husband or wife as defined or recognized in the state where the individual was married and includes individuals in a common law marriage or same-sex marriage.

In Loco Parentis: A person stands in loco parentis if that person provides day-to-day care or financial support for a child. Employees with no biological or legal relationship to a child can stand in loco parentis to that child and are entitled to FMLA leave (for example, an uncle who cares for his sister’s children while she serves on active military duty, or a person who is co-parenting a child with his or her same-sex partner). Also, an eligible employee is entitled to FMLA leave to care for a person who stood in loco parentis to that employee when the employee was a child.

If the University requests medical certification, you only have 15 calendar days to provide it in most circumstances. You are responsible for the cost of getting the certification from a health care provider and for making sure that the certification is provided to the University. If you fail to provide the requested medical certification, your FMLA leave may be denied. Medical certification forms can be found in the FMLA Toolkit.

If the University finds that necessary information is missing from your certification, you will be notified in writing of what additional information is needed to make the certification complete. You must provide the missing information within seven calendar days.

If the University has concerns about the validity of your certification, it may request a second opinion, but it must cover the cost. The University may request a third opinion if the first and second opinions differ, but it must cover the cost.

If your need for leave continues for an extended period of time, or if it changes significantly, the University may require you to provide an updated certification.

When you return to work following a leave of absence due to your own serious health condition, you must submit a physician's statement certifying that you can return to work and can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations. The University may request that you provide the physician's statement up to five (5) workdays in advance of your anticipated return date.

When you return to work, the FMLA requires that the University return you to the same job that you left or one that is nearly identical.

If you are not returned to the exact same job, the new position must:

• involve the same or substantially similar duties, responsibilities, and status;
• include the same general level of skill, effort, responsibility, and authority;
• offer identical pay, including equivalent premium pay, and overtime;
• offer identical benefits (such as life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, vacation, educational benefits, pensions, etc.); and
• offer the same general work schedule and be at the same (or a nearby) location.

Please keep in mind that if you exhaust your FMLA leave entitlement and are unable to return to work, the University is not required to restore you to your position.

Ongoing Communications between you and The University will make the FMLA process run much more smoothly. You will need to inform Absence Management (Faculty members please refer to the “Questions” section) if your need for FMLA leave changes while you are out (for example, if your doctor determines that you can return to work earlier than expected). You must also notify Absence Management if your job changes while you are on FMLA.

If you are approved for Intermittent FMLA Leave, please follow normal call-in procedures and notify your supervisor when an absence is FMLA related.

Staff

Please submit any FMLA documentation to Absence Management:

• via Secure Document Upload at https://hr.unm.edu/secure-upload; or
• Fax to 505-277-2278; or
• In-person to the HR Service Center.

Faculty

Main & Branch Campus Faculty

Please submit any FMLA documentation to the Office for Academic Personnel at oaplr@unm.edu

School of Medicine Faculty

Please submit any FMLA documentation to SOM Faculty Affairs at som-facultyaffairs@salud.unm.edu

College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, and College of Population Health Faculty

Please submit any FMLA documentation to HSC Faculty Contracts at hsc-hscfco@salud.unm.edu

GME

Please submit any FMLA documentation to Graduate Medical Education at GMEOffice@salud.unm.edu

Staff

For any questions regarding FMLA please contact Absence Management at absence@unm.edu or at 505.277.6947.

Faculty

Main & Branch Campus Faculty, Please Contact:

Office for Academic Personnel
505.277.4528
oaplr@unm.edu

School of Medicine Faculty, Please Contact:

SOM Faculty Affairs
som-facultyaffairs@salud.unm.edu

College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, and College of Population Health Faculty, Please Contact:

HSC Faculty Contracts
hsc-hscfco@salud.unm.edu

GME, Please Contact:

Graduate Medical Education
GMEOffice@salud.unm.edu