The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave of absence for eligible workers for numerous family and medical situations. These medical conditions include a pregnancy and care of a newborn; placement of a child for adoption or foster care; care for an immediate family member with a severe health condition; and the worker’s own serious illness or injury.
The FMLA applies to employers who have at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s work location. For an employee to be eligible, he or she must be employed for at least one year, and must have worked at least 1250 hours in the past twelve months.
Eligible employees have the right to take all 12 weeks of FMLA leave at once, or to take the leave intermittently when they only need partial time off for doctor’s appointments or to recover from a chronic condition. Employers are required not only to give FMLA leave, but also to restore the employee to his or her previous position, or an equivalent one, at the end of the leave. The FMLA prohibits interfering with FMLA rights, as well as retaliation for exercising FMLA rights.
Attorney Christine T. Elzer has extensive experience in FMLA cases. She has presented on FMLA issues to other attorneys at national and local conferences. If you believe you have been denied your FMLA rights or retaliated against because you took or requested FMLA leave, contact a Pittsburgh FMLA lawyer today.