Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Who Can Use FMLA Leave?

In order to take FMLA leave, you must:

• Work for a covered employer.  (APS is a covered employer.)
• Have worked for Albuquerque Public Schools for at least 12 months
• Have worked at least 1250 hours in the 12 months before you take leave 
• Work for an employer that has 50 or more employees within 75 miles of my jobsite.

Circumstances That Qualify for FMLA Leave

Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks of FMLA Leave in a 12-month period for the following qualifying reasons:

• The birth of a child and to bond with the newborn within one year of birth,
• The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to bond with the newly-placed child within one year of placement,
• A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of his or her job, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care,
• To care for the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care;
• Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a military member on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status.

Immediate Family Members

Employees can take FMLA leave due to a serious health condition of the following family members:

Spouse

• Spouse means a husband or wife as defined or recognized in the state where the individual was married, including a common law marriage or same-sex marriage.  Spouse also includes a husband or wife in a marriage that was validly entered into outside of the United States, if the marriage could have been entered into in at least one state.

Parent

• Parent means a biological, adoptive, step or foster father or mother, or any other individual who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child.  This term does not include "parents-in-law."

Son or Daughter

• Son or daughter means a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is under 18 years of age or who is 18 years of age or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability at the time that FMLA leave is to commence.  The onset of a disability may occur at any age for purposes of the definition of an adult "son or daughter" under FMLA.

Did You Know?

In order for a parent to take FMLA leave for a child who is 18 or over, the son or daughter must:

• Have a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at the time the leave is to commence,
• Be incapable of self-care because of the disability,
• Have a serious health condition, and
• Need care because of the serious health condition.

Intermittent FMLA Leave

• Intermittent leave will be addressed according to FMLA Regulations
• Intermittent Leave will only be allowed for those employees who meet FMLA eligibility and only for family members designated as spouse, parent, son or daughter as outlined above
• APS does not support intermittent or reduced schedule Leave for the care or bonding of a healthy child under the parental, adoption, or foster care categories

Substitution of Paid Leave

• Compensatory Time will not be applied to any leave of absence

Substitution of Pay for Employee's Illness

APS requires employees to substitute or use paid leave during the FMLA leave.  Once all absence balances of sick, personal, and annual leave are exhausted, the remaining FMLA hours will be unpaid.

Substitution of Pay for the Care of a Family Member

APS allows up to 3 (or in some cases--5) days of sick time towards the care of a family member.  After the three sick days are exhausted, personal leave, and annual (if applicable) leave will be used.  Once absence balances are exhausted, the remainder of the leave will be unpaid.  An employee is allowed the time to be absent, but the absences may be in an unpaid status.

Substitution means that the accrued paid leave will run concurrently with the unpaid FMLA leave.  When paid leave is used for an FMLA-covered reason, the leave is FMLA-protected.  For the purpose of substituting accrued paid leave, the employee must have both earned the leave and be able to use that leave during the FMLA period.

The employee receives pay pursuant to the employer's applicable paid leave policy during the period of otherwise unpaid FMLA leave.  An employee's ability to substitute accrued paid leave is determined by the terms and conditions of the employer's normal leave policy.

• For example, an employer is not obligated to allow an employee to substitute paid sick leave for unpaid FMLA leave in order to care for a child with a serious health condition if the employer's normal sick leave rules allow such leave only for the employee's illness.

This page was last updated on: July 27, 2011.