Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted to assist employees in reaching a balance between family and work responsibilities. FMLA provides eligible employees unpaid job protected leave for qualifying events. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must meet the following requirements:

  • Have a minimum of 12 months of employment with the University within a seven year period from the FMLA request date. The 12 months of employment with the University do not have to be consecutive.
  • Have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours, not including leave used and/or holidays, in the 12-month period prior to the FMLA leave request date.

The University uses a "rolling" 12-month period to assess an employee's available FMLA leave entitlement rather than a calendar year or academic year. The 12-month period is measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave. Eligible employees will be granted up to 12 weeks of leave for the following qualifying events:

  • The birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care.
  • To care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition.
  • For the employee's own serious health condition.
  • For qualifying exigency leave arising out of the covered active duty status of a military member who is the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent.

Eligible employees will be granted up to 26 weeks of military caregiver leave to care for a covered servicemember with serious injury or illness when the employee is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of the covered servicemember.

To request FMLA, the employee should complete the first two pages of the FMLA/Parental Leave Request and Notice Form, and obtain the supervisor's acknowledgement on the third page of the FMLA/Parental Leave Request and Notice Form. Upon receiving the supervisor's acknowledgement, the form should be submitted to the FMLA Administrator in Human Resources for processing and approval.

FMLA leave is unpaid leave; however, the University's leave policy allows employees to report accrued paid leave (vacation, sick, compensatory and personal holiday) in conjunction with the unpaid FMLA leave taken. For detailed instructions on entering FMLA time, please see the FMLA/Parental Leave Time Entry Instructions.

While an employee is on FMLA, the University continues to pay the employer portion of the employee's insurance premiums. The employee is responsible for continuing payment for the employee portion of the insurance premiums, and any other elected benefits. To arrange for payment of insurance premiums, the employee must contact the Benefits Office in Human Resources at (850) 644-4015.

Within 90 days of adding a dependent(s) to their benefits, employees are required to provide Dependent Eligibility Verification documentation to People First. Timely submission of verification documentation will prevent coverage interruption for the newly added dependents. Employees may submit the required documentation by uploading the document through their People First account. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the dependent verification process, please contact the People First Service Center at 1-866-663-4735.

Returning to Work

Employees on continuous FMLA leave for their own serious health condition and who have absences exceeding five (5) business days are required to furnish a Fitness for Duty Statement prior to returning to work. The Fitness for Duty Statement is completed by the employee's health care provider indicating the employee is fit to return to work. Employees will not be restored to active employment until a Fitness for Duty Statement has been received. All Fitness for Duty Statements should be submitted to the FMLA Administrator in Human Resources.

Parental Leave

All employees are eligible to take a maximum of six months of unpaid Parental Leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Parental Leave can be taken intermittently, but must conclude within six months of the birth or adoption of the child. Parental Leave runs concurrently with FMLA. For detailed information on Parental Leave, please see the Parental Leave Policy.

Resources

For information pertaining to Family and Medical Leave/Parental Leave, email FMLA@fsu.edu. Completed FMLA/Parental Leave Request and Notice forms may be submitted to the FMLA Administrator at MC:2410, Fax: (850) 645-9510, or electronically DocuSign/NIFTY to FMLA@fsu.edu. Medical documentation may be submitted via fax at (850) 645-9510, or securely via DocuSign/NIFTY.