Family and Medical Leave

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Leave of Absence

FMLA provides 12 weeks of unpaid job protected leave in a rolling 12 month period for an eligible employee for one or more of the following reasons:

• for the birth and care of a newborn child of the employee; 
• for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
• to care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition;
• to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition;
• for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty or call to active duty status as a member of the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation.
• or up to 26 weeks for an eligible employee who is a family member of a “covered service member” with a “serious injury or illness”.  

To be eligible for FMLA, you must have worked for KSU for a total of 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months. 

Intermittent Leave

Leave for one’s own serious health condition, or for the care of a family member with a serious health condition, may be taken on a continuous basis – or on an intermittent basis in increments as small as one hour – if medically indicated.  Intermittent leave may include leave periods of an hour or more, up to several weeks. Read more about intermittent leaves.
 
Employee Rights and Responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act
  
DOL FMLA Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
 
To request an FMLA Leave, submit the Request for Leave form along with the applicable Physician Certification form to HR: 

• KSU FMLA Leave Request Form
• Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition
• Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member’s Serious Health Condition
• Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military Family Leave
• Certification for Serious Injury or Illness of Covered Service member – for Military Family Leave
• For Faculty only: Academic Affairs Request for Leave Form
• Bi-Weekly Intermittent Leave Tracking Form
• Monthly Intermittent Leave Tracking Form

FMLA leave runs concurrently with your sick or vacation paid leave time.  Disability benefits may also apply if your FMLA leave is for your own medical condition.  Disability benefits are approved and paid through the disability carrier.  While you are on an approved leave of absence, your Benefits Specialist will enter your paid sick and vacation (if applicable) leave time in e-time.  

Paid Leave Accrual and Short Term Disability

You are required to use your sick leave accruals while out on a medical leave of absence. If you have short term disability coverage, you must freeze your paid sick time while being paid disability.  Once short term disability is exhausted and you are still out on leave, you can start being paid sick time.  Once sick is exhausted, you may elect to use vacation hours. Hours will be utilized in whole day increments. 

If you participate in the Donated Sick Leave Program you will not be considered to receive a donation until all of your own paid leave time has been exhausted and you do not have any Short Term Disability benefits.

Non-FMLA Medical Leave of Absence

If you do not meet the qualifications for an FMLA Leave or need additional medical leave time after your FMLA leave time is exhausted, you may request a non-FMLA Medical Leave. Based on the business needs of the department, Non-FMLA Medical Leave may or may not be granted. Submit the request to HR using the Non FMLA Leave request form.
 
Non FMLA Leave Request Form

Faculty members may not be absent from their teaching responsibilities except for illness, extraordinary personal circumstances, or performing professional obligations. The faculty member must notify the chair prior to any class cancelations or substitutions. In addition, faculty members may not cancel scheduled classes or meetings to take personal time.

Requests for leave will be handled in accordance with the policies and procedures detailed in the KSU Employee Handbook 4.0 (Vacation, Sick Leave and Leave of Absence) and/or the Americans with Disabilities Act policy. 

When leave circumstances may result in faculty member returning to duty when the semester is in progress, every effort will be made to minimize the potential disruption of the instructional experiences of the students involved. A primary goal of this policy is to allow both the faculty member and KSU the opportunity to maintain the integrity of the classroom and avoid placing undue burden on the faculty member or the department.  Generally, altering course instructors is only permissible when unavoidable due to the unexpected and/or sudden need for a faculty member to be removed from the classroom.  In such cases, once HR and/or Academic Affairs has notified the faculty member that he/she has been relieved of classroom duties and a substitute instructor has replaced the faculty member, then the faculty member will not be placed back in that classroom for the remaining semester.  In consultation with HR, Academic Affairs, and the department chair, upon return, and as applicable, the faculty member will be expected to resume non-classroom duties, including, but not limited to advising, committee work, course preparation, research and scholarship, and other duties which faculty members typically carry out beyond the classroom.