IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team
  

Supervisor Guidelines for FMLA: The Family and Medical Leave Act

Medical and Other Leaves of Absence

The following information applies any time an employee is absent from work for more than 5 days for either personal medical reasons or to help with medically-related family issues. MIT has a legal requirement to follow these procedures. Please talk with your IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team Liaison and/or consult with Human Resources Disability Services.

Note: There have been changes in the law regarding privacy of medical information. Therefore, supervisors should not ask for medical information, nor should employees send any medical information to their supervisor. All medical conversations and documentation should go through Human Resources Disability Services

The Family and Medical Leave Act

FMLA - The Family and Medical Leave Act - is a Federal law that provides up to 12 weeks of job protection for eligible employees for qualifying absences.

'Job protection' means that an employee cannot be terminated because of the absence(s). Although the law does not require MIT to pay employees during such absences, in most cases MIT’s sick policy prevails, and employees are paid.

'Qualifying absences' include continuous and/or intermittent absences due to a serious medical condition of the employee, or employee's family member, pregnancy, and/or adoption.

In the case of an employee's personal medical condition, FMLA overlaps MIT's disability/sick leave policies - in other words, for the first 12 weeks of an eligible employee's serious medical condition, the job protection of FMLA is in force. After that, although the employee may have exhausted his/her FMLA protection, he/she may still have job and/or pay protection under MIT's sick leave policies. In the case of qualifying absences other than the employee's own health situation, the employee, while receiving job protection under FMLA, may need to use vacation and/or personal time, or may be on unpaid leave.

Because of the complexity of these laws and policies, supervisors and employees are strongly encouraged to talk with the IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team and/or a Human Resource officer to ensure that steps taken are in accordance with the law, and the requirements of various MIT systems.

This process starts when an employee will be (or has been) out of work more than 5 days with a qualifying absence such as a serious personal illness, serious illness with a family member, pregnancy, or adoption. The leave may be continuous (e.g., surgery followed by recuperation) or intermittent (e.g., taking a child to physical therapy twice a week).

For absences known in advance, the supervisor and employee should talk as well as letting the IS&T Human Resources (IST-HR) Team Liaison know. In the case of an unplanned absence, the supervisor should talk with their IST-HR Liaison. Depending on the circumstances, the leave form and/or a supervisor form may be submitted to HR.