Apply for Medical Leave

If you or a loved one has a serious health condition, you may be able to take an extended period of time off work without worrying about losing your job. Under federal or state law, you may be eligible to take as much as three months off work, paid or unpaid. This leave is job-protected, meaning if you qualify your employer can't fire you for taking it, and has to give you back the same or equivalent job when you return. In addition, many companies offer their own medical leave as part of the benefits package offered to employees. Although the process for applying for these forms of leave may differ to some extent, all begin by talking to your manager or to a representative in your company's human resources department to determine your best options for taking the time away that you need.

Steps

Applying for Federal Leave

1. Confirm your eligibility under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Generally, you are eligible for up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave if you've worked for a covered employer at least 1,250 hours in the last 12 months.
   • Employers are covered by FMLA if they have at least 50 employees, either on site where you work or within a 75-mile radius.
   • FMLA leave is available if you have a serious health condition, or if you need to care for a spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition.
   • Serious health conditions include inpatient care in a hospital or other residential medical facility, a period of incapacity due to pregnancy, or absences to receive multiple medical treatments such as chemotherapy or dialysis.
2. Provide as much notice as possible. Generally, you must give your employer at least 30 days' advance notice if you plan to take time off using your FMLA medical leave.
   • If the medical situation arises unexpectedly, such as an emergency or unpredicted worsening of condition, you must inform your employer as soon as possible.
   • When you don't give 30 days' notice because the medical condition wasn't foreseeable, your employer has the right to ask for an explanation as to why it wasn't practicable for you to give the amount of notice required by law.
3. Request leave from your manager or human resources representative. You don't have to ask specifically for FMLA in your first leave request, but you must at least provide enough information to make your employer aware that your request may be covered by FMLA.
   • Any additional leave requests after the first either must mention FMLA specifically, or mention the condition that served as the basis for the first request.
   • Within five days of your request, your employer must inform you of whether you are eligible for FMLA leave.
4. Provide medical certification, if requested. When you request leave, your employer must provide you with information about your rights and responsibilities under FMLA. Your employer also has the right to request medical certification of your need to take leave.
   • If you are asked to provide medical certification, you have 15 calendar days to provide it. If you don't provide the requested certification, your employer may deny your request for leave.
   • The only situation in which an employer does not have the right to ask for medical certification is if you are requesting leave time to bond with a newborn or child placed in your home for adoption or foster care.
   • Your employer also may ask for medical certification after the leave is granted, if questions arise regarding the appropriateness of your leave or its duration.
   • You may have to pay a fee to your health-care provider to furnish the information required for the medical certification.
   • Complete certification would include information such as when the condition began, how long it will last, appropriate medical facts about the condition, and a statement as to why you cannot work or why your loved one needs your care.
5. File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor. If your employer wrongfully denies your right to leave under FMLA, you can file a complaint with the Wages and Hours Division of the DOL or file a lawsuit in court against your employer.

Applying for State Leave

1. Contact your state labor department. Many states have medical leave laws in addition to the leave provided under FMLA, and your state's labor department will have information about these benefits.
2. Compare state and federal options. State programs may be your only option if your employer isn't covered by the FMLA, or if you haven't been working for your employer long enough to be eligible.
   • State laws may cover smaller employers and employees who haven't worked for their employers for a full year.
   • Even municipalities may have law requiring medical leave. For example, San Francisco has a law requiring employers to provide paid sick leave for workers when they take time off to care for their own health or the health of a family member.
   • Paid sick days are required by law in four states, the District of Columbia, and 18 cities nationwide.
   • Some states provide greater totals of time off than FMLA provides, even if you are eligible for FMLA, making state leave the better choice if you need additional time.
   • At least five states including California, New Jersey, and New York provide temporary disability benefits to provide some wage-replacement for workers out on unpaid medical leave for their own medical conditions.
   • If your leave is covered under both state and federal leave laws, the leave you request will come out of your federal leave time unless you specify otherwise.
3. Give as much advance notice as possible. Check with your state's labor department to determine how much notice you're required to give your employer to take advantage of state medical leave benefits.
   • If your leave is covered by both state and federal leave, the notice rule that applies is whichever provides you the most benefit. Therefore, if your state law requires less advance notice than the federal law, the state's notice requirement applies.
4. Request leave from your manager or human resources representative. If you've decided to use state rather than federal leave and you're eligible for both, make sure you specify in your request for leave that you wish to use state leave.
5. Provide medical certification, if requested. Many state medical leave laws also allow employers to request medical certification if doubts are raised as to your need for leave. In most states this provision is similar to the FMLA certification provision.

Applying for Company Leave

1. Read over your company handbook. If your company provides for medical or family leave, there probably will be information about the benefit in your company handbook or other documents you were given when you started working.
   • You also may be provided an accounting of accrued sick days or vacation time on your check stub.
   • You may want to find out how sick and vacation time is accrued and make your own calculation, in case your employer's calculations are incorrect. For example, if you've been working for your employer 40 hours a week, and you accrue one hour of sick time for every four hours you work, you should accrue 10 hours of sick time a week. If your check stub shows less, your employer isn't calculating your time correctly and your record will need to be adjusted.
2. Talk to a human resources representative. If your employer doesn't have a dedicated human resources department, talk to whoever is in charge of payroll and personnel matters about how to go about taking your leave.
   • If you have paid leave built up, including vacation time, your employer may require you to use that up before you use any unpaid leave available to you under state or federal law.
3. Talk to a union representative. If you work in a unionized workplace, your collective bargaining agreement may include leave provisions.
   • The collective bargaining agreement governs the relationship between you and your employer, and may include leave provisions for catastrophic leave or supplemental sick leave.
   • In addition, your union may have a leave bank in which employees can donate their unused sick days for individuals who have used all of their leave.
   • Your union representative can help you determine if there are any leave provisions or other allowances that are applicable to your situation.
4. Request leave following your company's policy. If your company has a particular policy for requesting leave, such as requiring a certain amount of notice or the use of a certain form, find out those requirements beforehand.

Tips

• If possible, try to help coworkers get caught up to speed with what your job requires. This will help make your absence easier on everyone.
• You may also wish to be available by telephone in case someone needs to ask a question.

Warnings

• If you have to take more than 12 weeks of leave during a 12 month period, then you will lose the FMLA protection that you must be reinstated to your job.
• Your employer may also request periodic updates and ask whether you intend to return to work at the end of your leave.

References

See also

• Request Time Off
• Request Time Off on the Hub (Disney)
• Negotiate Time off Work when You Have No Leave
• Negotiate for More Vacation Time
• File Stress Leave at Work
• Take a Working Holiday
• Plan a Sabbatical
• Apply for Military Medical Leave
• Request Flex Time at Work
• Manage Intermittent Family and Medical Leave

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