City of Savannah, MO Leave of Absence

[R.O. 2011 §23.410; Ord. No. 1909 §1(23.410), 10-20-1997]

For an employee to be eligible for coverage under FMLA, he/she must have worked for us twelve (12) months prior to the requested leave and must have worked at least one thousand two hundred fifty (1,250) hours during that twelve-month period. Hours worked not only include the time that an employee is required to be on duty, but also include the time that the employee is suffered or permitted to work. Hours worked include time that the employee has spent doing nothing (as when the employee is on call) or has performed incidental activities. FMLA grants the employee unpaid leave for the birth, adoption or placement of a child in foster care. The employee may take FMLA leave before the actual birth or placement. The employee's right to FMLA leave for the birth or placement of the child expires twelve (12) months after the child's birth or placement. The parents do not have to use a licensed adoption agency for the child's birth or placement. The parents do not have to use a licensed adoption agency for the child's adoption to qualify for FMLA leave. However, to qualify for FMLA leave for the placement if a child is in foster care, the placement must involve the appropriate State agencies. An informal arrangement to take care of another person's child does not qualify for FMLA leave.

When both spouses work for us, their combined total leave during a twelve-month period cannot exceed twelve (12) weeks when the leave is taken for the birth or placement of a child or for the care of a parent with a serious health condition.

An eligible employee may take FMLA leave when the employee is unable to perform the job functions because of a serious condition. The employee does not have to be so incapacitated that no work can be performed. FMLA only requires that the employee must be temporarily unable to perform the essential job functions (as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)) of the position.

A serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or a physical or mental condition that involves either:

Inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility.

The continuing treatment by a health care provider.

A health care provider includes a licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy or any other person determined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor to be capable of providing health care services. The U.S. Secretary of Labor included podiatrists, dentists, clinical psychologists, optometrists, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and Christian Science practitioners in the FMLA definition of a health care provider.

The term serious health condition is not intended to cover short-term conditions for which treatment and recovery are brief, since these conditions would ordinarily be covered by our sick leave policies. When inpatient care is not required, the employee must be absent from work for more than three (3) days and must require the continuing treatment of the health care provider.

Since FMLA provides for an intermittent or a reduced leave schedule when medically necessary, the regulations provide that a serious health condition includes treatment for a serious, chronic health condition which, if left untreated, would likely result in an absence from work of more than three (3) days (e.g., treatment for early stages of cancer, physical therapy after a hospital stay, or prenatal care).

An eligible employee may take FMLA leave to care for the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition. This provision includes leave to provide psychological comfort and to arrange for third party care of the family member (e.g., nursing home). Because the health care provider may not be able to determine if the employee's presence is needed, the health care provider only needs to certify that third party care is required or that the employee's presence would be beneficial to the patient.

We are not required to grant an eligible employee unpaid leave to care for an unmarried domestic partner. A spouse, for purpose of FMLA, has the same meaning given by Missouri law, and it would be very unusual if we ever had to worry about so called common law marriages which Missouri only recognizes in very limited circumstances.

A son or daughter is any person who is under eighteen (18) years of age or older who is incapable of caring for himself/herself because of a mental or physical disability and where the person's relationship to the employee is that of a biological/adopted/foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or a child of a person standing in the place of a parent.

"Parent" means the biological parent of an employee or an individual who stood in the place of a parent to the employee when the employee was a son or daughter. A parent does not include a parent-in-law.

When the employee returns from FMLA leave, the employee must be returned to the position held prior to FMLA leave or an equivalent position. The equivalent position must have the same benefits, pay, and working conditions as the job that the employee held before taking FMLA leave. The equivalent position must involve the same or substantially the same duties and responsibilities, skill, effort and authority as the job previously held by the employee. The employee must be returned to the same work site where the employee worked before taking FMLA leave. The employee must also be returned to the same shift or an equivalent schedule.

The employee must have the same opportunity for bonuses and other non-discretionary payments. An eligible employee retains all accrued benefits while on leave. When the employee returns from FMLA leave, all benefits must be resumed at the same level that existed when the leave began, with no new qualification periods or physical examinations. Any increase in pay or change in benefits that are not dependent upon seniority or accrual during the leave period also become effective when the employee returns to work.

The employee has no greater rights to restoration or other benefits than those that the employee would have received if continuously employed during the leave period. When the employee is denied restoration, we must show that the employee would not have been employed or received the job benefits had the employee not taken FMLA leave, but rather, continued to work until the request for restoration.

We must maintain coverage under our group health insurance plan for the employee taking FMLA leave. Coverage must remain at the same level and under the conditions that the coverage would have provided had the employee not taken FMLA leave. Health insurance benefits do not have to be provided unless we currently provide such benefits for the employee.

Our and the employee's share of health insurance premiums must be paid in the customary manner. When the employee also makes premium payments, the parties must make mutually acceptable arrangements for payment of the premiums. The employee has a thirty-day grace period (thirty (30) days after the agreed-upon date) to make payments of the premium without affecting the health insurance coverage. If the employee does not make the payment after the expiration of the 30th day, we are not required to maintain health insurance coverage. However, when we stop paying the employee's premiums and the employee returns from FMLA leave, we must restore the employee's group insurance (and other benefits) to at least the same level and terms that were provided before the leave. If we continue to make the employee's premium payments after the expiration of the thirty-day grace period, we can recover the additional payments made on the employee's behalf from the employee.

If we learn that the employee is not going to return after the termination of FMLA leave for reasons other than a serious health condition or circumstances beyond the employee's control, we can recover the health insurance premiums that were paid during FMLA leave. An employee who does not return to work for at least thirty (30) calendar days after the termination of FMLA leave has failed to return to work and we may collect the health insurance premiums paid.

When the employee does not return to work at the termination of the FMLA leave because of a serious health condition, we may ask the employee to provide medical certification from a health care provider. If the employee does not provide the requested certification within thirty (30) days of the request, we may recover the health insurance premiums paid during the employee's FMLA leave.

The employee may take FMLA leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule. Reduced leave decreases the employee's usual number of hours per workweek or hours per workday. Intermittent leave is taken in separate blocks of time due to a single illness or injury.

Unless we approve, intermittent or reduced leave is not available to an employee who requests leave for the birth or placement of a child. When an employee requests leave to care for a family member or because of the employee's serious health condition, intermittent or reduced leave may be taken when medically necessary. The employee must provide medical certification listing the dates of treatment and duration of the treatment. The employee must give us thirty (30) days' notice (or as much notice as is practical under the circumstances) of the intention to take FMLA leave. When the leave is foreseeable, an employee must schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt our operation.

When the employee requests intermittent or reduced leave, we may temporarily place the employee in another position that accommodates the requested leave better than does the employee's current position. The temporary position must be one for which the employee is qualified and must provide pay and benefits equivalent to the employee's previous position. The FMLA does not require that the employee consent to the temporary position. The ADA, however, may require us to accommodate the employee's health condition.

FMLA only requires unpaid leave. We are not required to provide paid sick leave or medical leave in any situation where we would not have normally provided paid leave. However, the employee may elect or we may require that paid vacation, personal, family, medical, or sick leave accumulated by the employee be substituted for FMLA leave.

When an employee uses paid leave (whether or not the circumstances for its use qualify as FMLA leave), the employee must comply with our requirements for the use of the paid leave. Although the FMLA may require more stringent notice or certification requirements, we may not impose FMLA requirements on the employee's use of paid leave. If the employee wishes to extend paid leave with the unpaid FMLA leave, certification requirements will apply as of the first (1st) day of the leave period.

As stated above, we may require the employee to substitute paid leave for FMLA leave. If paid leave is substituted for FMLA leave, the time away from work is counted toward the twelve (12) week FMLA leave entitlement. Our designation of the leave (paid or unpaid) as FMLA qualifying must be made at the request of the employee and based solely upon the information supplied by the employee. If the designation is not made at the beginning of the leave (the need for the leave was unexpected or the employee did not advise us of the purpose of the leave), we may retroactively designate the entire leave period (or the appropriate part) as FMLA leave when the employee requests an extension of the leave. The designation as FMLA cannot be made after the leave is concluded and cannot be made based upon any information other than that provided by the employee.

We may request certification of a health care provider when the employee requests leave because of a serious health condition. When we request certification, the employee must provide the certification in a timely manner or no later than fifteen (15) calendar days after the request was made (unless notice within that time is impractical under the circumstances). We must inform the employee if medical certification will be required when the employee requests leave.

Certification must contain a statement:

When the condition began.

Its probable duration.

Appropriate medical facts.

An assertion that the employee is unable to perform the essential functions of the job or that the employee is needed to care for a family member.

AA.

When we have reason to doubt the validity of the employee's certification, we may request the opinion of a second health care provider. The second health care provider must be designated or approved by us. Since we requested the second opinion, we must pay for that opinion. When the first and second opinions of the health care providers conflict, we may request (and pay for) a third opinion from a health care provider. The parties must act in good faith when agreeing upon the third health care provider. The third opinion is final and binding. Should one (1) of the parties fail to act in good faith, the opinion of the other's health care provider will be binding (e.g., if we do not act in good faith, the first opinion of the employee's health care provider is binding).

AB.

We may request periodic reports of the employee's condition and intention to return to work. Rectification reports cannot be requested more frequently than every thirty (30) days unless:

The employee has requested an extension of the leave.

Changed circumstances have accrued regarding an injury or an illness.

We receive information that places doubt upon the continuing validity of the employee's most recent certification.

AC.

We also may require certification that the employee is able (or unable) to return to work after FMLA leave. Our policy on certification upon the employee's return from FMLA leave must be applied uniformly and must comply with ADA as well as State and local law. We may require a fitness-for-duty certification as a condition of restoration to the job.

AD.

We may deny restoration of a key employee to his/her prior or an equivalent position when the restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic loss to our operations. A "key employee" is defined as being among the highest paid ten percent (10%) of our salaried eligible employees. When a "key employee" requests FMLA leave and we intend to deny restoration, we must notify the employee:

Of the key status.

That substantial and grievous economic loss would result to us if the employee is reinstated upon return from FMLA leave.

That restoration to the prior or an equivalent position is not possible.

AE.

The key employee must decide whether to take FMLA leave knowing that the prior or an equivalent position will not be available.

AF.

When we determine that restoration of the key employee would result in substantial and grievous economic loss to us after the employee has begun FMLA leave, we must immediately notify the employee that the job will not be restored. We must, at that point, give the key employee the opportunity to return to work or to continue the FMLA leave.

AG.

Finally, we must continue the health insurance benefits of a key employee who takes FMLA leave even though the key employee will not be restored to the prior or equivalent position.