State-by-State Guide to Family Medical Leave & Parental Leave Laws
By Annemaria Duran
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was put into law in 1993. The law oversees companies across the United States. FMLA applies to employers who have at least 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. Their employees who have worked at least 1 year and 1,250 hours in the last year are eligible for FMLA leave.
FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of leave for family or medical purposes. In specific circumstances, employees can take up to 26 weeks of protected leave. Employees are able to take leave to bond with new children, care for ill family members, or take care of their own serious illness. Family members that are included in the act includes the employee’s child, spouse, or parents.
In addition, when an employee leaves to care for a seriously ill service member, they may take up to 26 weeks of leave. Lastly, employees may take leave for military exigencies.
California Family Medical Leave and Pregnancy Leave
Both the California Family Rights Act and Pregnancy Disability Act provides protected leave for families.
The Pregnancy Disability Act covers employers with 5 or more employees and provides up to 4 months of leave due to pregnancy disability. Often this leave can be used simultaneously with FMLA leave. Employees are eligible for pregnancy disability leave for every pregnancy, regardless of if two pregnancies occur in the same year or not. One exception to this is with new employees who would not qualify for FMLA leave and small businesses employees.
In addition, California also requires protected leave through the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). CFRA provides 12 weeks of leave in a 12 month period. As with FMLA, CFRA provides leave for bonding after the birth or placement of a child into the home, to care for seriously ill family members, or for the employee’s own serious illness.
One key difference from FMLA is that CFRA provides leave for more family relationships. When these relationships are the reason for leave, the employee only uses CFRA and will not simultaneously take FMLA..
Colorado Family Care Act
The Colorado Family Care Act is the most ambiguous and unclear statewide leave law in the country. Its stated purpose is to expand the reach of the FMLA. It seeks to expand coverage for additional relationships that employees can take family leave under. However, a state law does not have the authority to expand the scope of the federal FMLA. Instead, the Colorado Family Care act inadvertently creates a second protected leave for employees who take leave for these additional family members. Those employees would still have additional full leave coverage provided under FMLA.
Connecticut Family Medical Leave Act
The Connecticut Family Medical Leave Act (CFMLA) provides up to 16 weeks of leave every 24 months. In addition, its requirements for eligibility differ slightly from FMLA requirements. CFMLA provides additional coverage for the relationship of parent-in-law and provides leave for organ or bone marrow donations. Due to these and and other subtle differences, employers may have to provide separate full FMLA and CFMLA leave to employees.
Read more state-by-state laws at www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12354784.
[This article first appeared on the SwipeClock.com blog.]
Top Payroll Social Media:
Dealing with State and Local Taxes for Nonresident Employees. Bloomberg BNA Blog:
http://bit.ly/2vQ5bI5
Wage Theft and the State of Small Business Employee Trust. SurePayroll Blog:
http://bit.ly/2w6DTwl
How to Stop Sick Employees from Coming to Work. HR Payroll Systems Blog:
http://bit.ly/2u56lgy
Three Ways to Improve the Interview Process. ADP@Work Blog:
http://bit.ly/2v3XksN
Revised Form I-9 and Instructions Released. APA Blog:
http://bit.ly/2h8Yv4s
Latest Payroll News:
Small Businesses Spend Billions to Manage HR. Small business owners and their employees wear a lot of hats. It seems to be the nature of the beast.
www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12354787
Social Security Scam Targets Retirees. The impersonator calls from a telephone number with a 323 area code and claims to be an SSA employee.
www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12352762
Millennials Stress Over Retirement. Americans in their early 20s to late 30s came in at a 5.4 stress level on a scale of 1-10, higher than the American average of 4.9.
www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12352004
How to Help Clients Comply with Minimum Wage Laws. In January 2017, 40 states and jurisdictions across the country raised the minimum wage for small businesses.
www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12350981
7 Tips to Help Pay for College. The average full-time student at a four-year, non-profit private university will pay $32,410 a year in tuition and fees.
www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/12350978
Thanks for reading CPA Practice Advisor!
Subscribe Already registered? Log In
Need more information? Read the FAQs
Tags: Payroll
