The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

350 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Sample
• The company is not obligated to reinstate you if you are a key employee—that
is, if you are among the highest-paid 10 % of our workforce—and holding your
job open during your leave would cause the company substantial economic
harm. If the company classifies you as a key employee under this definition, you
will be notified soon after you request leave.
• Two weeks prior to your intended return date, you should notify the human
resources manager of your intent to return to work. And, if anything has
changed concerning your return to work while you have been on leave, you
should notify human resources of the change.
If you are returning from leave for your own serious health condition, the company
may ask you to provide a fitness-for-duty report from your health care provider
before you return to work. We will provide a form to be used for this purpose.
How Your FMLA Policy Affects Company Obligations
As we’ve explained, your company has to comply with its own leave policy if
its terms are more generous or less strict than the FMLA. If your company’s
leave policy is less generous or stricter than the FMLA, you must follow the
FMLA with respect to FMLA-eligible employees or FMLA-qualified leaves.
Here are a few areas of particular importance—review them while using the
sample policy above to create your own policy.
Definitions
Your company may define terms more broadly than the FMLA. If it does, it
may extend the FMLA’s protections to employees who would not otherwise
be eligible.
• Eligible employee. Your company can offer family and medical leave to
employees who don’t meet the FMLA’s eligibility requirements (12
months’ employment/1,250 hours in 12 months preceding leave).
However, such a decision has ramifications. For example, you can deduct
reduced-schedule FMLA leave time (less than a full week of leave) from
an eligible, exempt employee’s pay without affecting the employee’s