FMLA Attorneys in Arizona

The FMLA entitles employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. A covered employer is a private sector employer with 50 or more employees; a public agency, including a local, state, or Federal government agency regardless of how many employees it employs; and public or private elementary or secondary schools regardless of how many employees it employs. 

To be eligible for the leave, the employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and has at least 1,250 hours of service for the employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave. The employee has up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child or placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care; to care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition; for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of the job; or for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a military member on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status. 

The FMLA does not provide for paid leave. If an employee has accrued paid leave (e.g. sick, vacation, or PTO leave), the employer may require employees to use accrued paid leave to cover some or all of the FMLA leave period. There are procedural requirements the employer must follow when the need for leave arises. An employer cannot interfere with or deny this right when applicable. 

When an employee returns from FMLA leave, the employee must be restored to the same job that he/she/they held when the leave began or to an equivalent job. An equivalent job means a job that is virtually identical to the original job in terms of pay, benefits, and other employment terms and conditions. An employee on FMLA leave is not protected from actions that would have affected him/her/them if the employee was not on FMLA leave. Also, the employer may deny restoration to a “key employee” if necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to its operations. A key employee is a salaried FMLA-eligible employee who is among the highest paid 10% of all employees. 

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