Kristin172429 FMLA Question

preggersINschool25

I know I posted about this before, but I had another question.

DH works for UPS part-time.  That is the job he is trying to get FMLA off for.  I do not work at UPS.  He works approximately 18 hours a week.  They are saying since he is only PT that he only qualifies for 6 weeks of FMLA and since he took off 5 when I was pregnant, he only has one week left.

Does that sound right to you?

kristin172429

Nope!  Doesn't sound right to me at all.  As far as I am aware, you must grant all employees the same leave amount (12 weeks under Federal law) as long as they meet the minimum requirements for leave: been employed by the company for at least a year and has worked 1250 hours in the last year.  I admit that I didn't work much with part-time employees when I dealt with FMLA, but I have NEVER heard of allowing a different leave entitlement and am pretty sure it is a violation of the FMLA.  I will double-check the act for wording on this.

pinkshades05

kristin172429:

minimum requirements for leave: been employed by the company for at least a year and has worked 1250 hours in the last year.

I don't know anything about FMLA, but I had a question. 

1250 hours = ~25hrs/week

Her husband works about 18hrs/week. Would that make a difference?

ssimon621

Preggers, he wouldn't qualify under federal law because he wouldn't have worked 1250 in the last 12 months.  Also, my husband works for UPS and he has a union booklet that explains pretty much every leave scenario.  Your husband should have one, it's about the size of a pocket sized bible.

UPS is usually very generous about benefits and probably extends fmla to their part time employees as a company policy and not a federal policy.  Also, I think it is much harder to ask them to be flexible at this time of year because they are entering peak season.  Also, if your injury does not qualify him for the FMLA the birth of your son does.  He can use his leave in any part within the 12 months following the birth of a child.

HTH

 

kristin172429

I can't find anything in the act that allows a reduction in leave other than spouses who work at the same company.  Part-time workers have the same eligibility.  I would also make sure they are calculating in correctly.  His FMLA time in weeks is based on HIS workweeks, not a standard work week.  Here is what I mean by this:

He works 18 hours/week.

His work week is then considered 18 hours.

9 hours would be considered 1/2 a week of FMLA for him.

If he takes an entire week off, it counts as 1 week (if they tried to ding him for 40 hours here, they would count his one week off as two weeks - this is wrong and might be the source of your issue).  

If you can find out exactly what HR is telling him or give me any hint of their written policy, I can pull the correct section of the FMLA law for you and he can show them.  Good luck!  So many employers have no idea what they are doing when it comes to FMLA, my old employer included!  I actually fixed a large number of non-compliance issues related to the law when I started there. 

ssimon621

Ok, the 6 weeks is a definite.  I am going to PM you the link to the UPS FMLA poster.  You can find it on the employee website.

kristin172429

ssimon621:

Ok, the 6 weeks is a definite.  I am going to PM you the link to the UPS FMLA poster.  You can find it on the employee website.

It is great if UPS offers leave for those part-time employees that don't qualify for FMLA.  They really shouldn't call it FMLA though.  It is just a company leave, not the federal entitlement. 

preggersINschool25

ssimon621:

Ok, the 6 weeks is a definite.  I am going to PM you the link to the UPS FMLA poster.  You can find it on the employee website.

I got the PM, but it needs DH's log in information.  I don't know it, so I will have him look at it when he gets home.

Kristin - Thanks for the info.  I didn't know he had to work so many hours to qualify...  6 weeks a year seems like plenty of time until you have a baby and need surgery in the same year...

ssimon621

kristin172429:

ssimon621:

Ok, the 6 weeks is a definite.  I am going to PM you the link to the UPS FMLA poster.  You can find it on the employee website.

It is great if UPS offers leave for those part-time employees that don't qualify for FMLA.  They really shouldn't call it FMLA though.  It is just a company leave, not the federal entitlement. 

Yeah, on the poster it's listed "For Employees who don't qualify for FMLA, but meet these requirements..."