The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 4 | leave for a serious health condition | 69
• the consequences of not performing that function
• whether other employees are available to perform that function, and
• the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function.
Tip
An employee on intermittent or reduced-schedule leave must be able
to perform the essential functions of the job. The FMLA permits eligible
employees to take intermittent or reduced-schedule leave when medically
necessary. Unlike employees on full-time leave, employees taking this
type of leave must be able to perform the essential functions of their jobs
because they’ll still be working. Chapter 6 discusses this in greater detail.
If an employee must be out of work to receive treatment for a serious health
condition (for example, for prenatal care, required surgery, or a doctor’s
appointment for follow-up care), the employee is considered unable to work
for that period of time.
Example: Clara tore a ligament in her leg while playing soccer. She had surgery to
repair the ligament, and her doctor told her not to walk much on that leg for several
weeks. Clara is a receptionist for a large company. Her job involves greeting visitors,
answering phones, receiving packages and mail, and so on. Because Clara can perform
the essential functions of her job while seated at her desk, she probably isn’t eligible
to take several weeks off under the FMLA. Although the time she actually spends in
surgery and follow-up care would be covered, the weeks of recovery would not.
If Clara’s job duties required her to walk around the building—for example, to
collect or deliver mail, get refreshments for visitors, and so on—the company would
have to decide whether these are essential duties or not, using the criteria listed
above. If Clara held a much more physical job (for example, if she worked as a bike
messenger or a laborer in a warehouse), she would clearly be unable to perform her
job’s essential duties and would be entitled to FMLA leave.