Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), if you have 12 months of service and are in a permanent position, you are entitled to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave (leave without pay) during any 12 month period for one or more of the following reasons:
* Note that the Department of Energy has determined that, when an employee of the Department invokes this Act, the definition of a "family member" includes the following: adopted children, parents of your spouse, your children's spouses, your brothers and sisters and their spouses, and any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association to you is the equivalent of a family relationship.
The FMLA does not mean that the employee receives any extra leave; nor did the passage of this Act create any new leave category. When an employee invokes the FMLA, he/she is declaring that he/she must be gone from the workplace. Whether the absence is without pay or on paid leave depends on the nature of the absence; see below. Once invoked and supported by sufficient documentation, FMLA is an entitlement; the employee may not be called back to work, nor may the employee's performance appraisal be adversely affected.
Application for FMLA
In general, you are required to submit a written invocation of FMLA to your supervisor 30 days in advance of your absence. This can be done on the SF-71 form (block 5), or by submitting a Department of Labor (DOL) form FMLA Certification - (WH-380) . The DOL form is also available in Room 4E-050, in the Headquarters Employee/ Labor Relations Office. The application must include an explanation of the reason the absence is needed (including a brief description of the nature and anticipated duration of the medical emergency), and supporting medical documentation from a doctor or practitioner concerning your, or your family member's, serious health condition.
Leave may be taken as a block (e.g., 2 weeks, 8 weeks, etc.) or under certain circumstances intermittently (e.g., 4 hours, a day or two, etc.).
Requesting Use of Paid Leave
Once you have invoked FMLA, you may substitute any accrued annual or sick leave (in accordance with laws and regulations governing use of annual and sick leave) for any part of the 12 weeks of unpaid leave.
Sick leave may now be used for the entire 12 weeks of the FMLA invocation if the employee has sufficient sick leave in his her account; only 40 hours sick leave may be advanced for a "serious health condition" of a family member. Any accrued or "available" annual leave (i.e., annual leave that would be accrued in the current leave year) may also be used.
Remember, FMLA entitlement begins with the first hour's use and continues for the next 12 months; sick leave entitlement runs from one leave year to the next, roughly equivalent to the calendar. So, in some cases, an employee could invoke FMLA late in the calendar year and have 40 hours sick leave advanced; in the next calendar year, during the 12 weeks' FMLA entitlement, another 40 hours could be advanced. Any member of the Headquarters Employee/Labor Management Relations Services Team would be happy to explain further.
Entitlements Upon Return to Duty
If you take leave under FMLA, and return to work before the authorized absence expires, you are entitled to return to the same, or an equivalent, position without loss of benefits, pay, status, or other conditions of employment.
If you are enrolled in health benefits, you are entitled to maintain them while under FMLA. If you are on unpaid leave (LWOP), you may pay your (employee) share of the premiums each pay period or upon return to work.
For further information, talk to your supervisor or contact the Headquarters Employee/Labor Management Relations Services team at (202) 586-8731.