Below are excerpts from the UA Human Resources web page on Family and Medical Leave, which also includes links to forms, FAQ's, etc. Please note that the ARL procedure below includes ARL-specific steps which are different from those on the UA HR page.

Family Medical Leave (FML) is a leave intended to allow an eligible employee up to twelve protected work weeks off work for qualifying family and medical events (up to 26 weeks for care of qualifying injured family members in military).

Eligibility

• Employee has twelve or more months of cumulative service with the University.
• Employee has worked at least 1,250 regular hours in the twelve months prior to the start of this leave.
• Employee (or qualified family member) has a serious health condition or covered military situation or birth/care of newborn child or placement of child for adoption/foster care.
• Employee has remaining balance of available FML in the current FML year (FML Year is a period of twelve months measured backward from the date of the first requested leave).

Procedure - ARL

• FML-eligible employee communicates request to supervisor for time off due to what may be FML-qualifying reason as indicated by one or more of the following affecting the employee or (where applicable) affecting the employee's spouse, parent, child:
  • Birth or adoption event
  • Hospital in-patient (overnight)
  • Pregnancy/pre-natal care
  • Incapacity of more than 3 days with treatment by health care provider
  • Chronic/long-term/multiple treatment conditions
  • Military situations (call-up prep, caregiving)
• Supervisor and/or employee consults with ARL HR Mgr if questions about whether to submit FML request.
• Employee submits FML Request Form to immediate supervisor as soon as possible. Supervisor does informal review of form, initials form, and forwards to ARL Human Resources Mgr. (Note: request form should be addressed to 1) supervisor and 2) to ARL Human Resources Manager.)
• ARL HR Mgr reviews request form to determine eligibility and prepares/signs response form. ARL HR Mgr sends approval info packet to employee and supervisor, typically within two business days of the determination.
• Completed paperwork is forwarded by ARL HR Mgr to the UA Human Resources Benefits Administration Team.
• Employee completes time record with applicable FML leave codes by using dropdown box. (Note: policy requires employee first to use available sick leave balance coded as FML sick leave. The employee then has option to use vacation as FML vac; otherwise use FML unpaid.)
• If applicable, employee provides medical certification within fifteen calendar days of request from ARL HR Mgr, and/or a fitness-for-duty certificate prior to return to work.
• Process is repeated for each FML extension.

Paid Time and Benefits

• Employee draws from available sick time (mandatory) or vacation time (optional); otherwise FML time off is unpaid.
• As long as the employee is on paid status (e.g., sick time, vacation time), benefit deductions will be taken from the employee's paycheck.
• Upon non-pay status, the employee may continue health benefits through the end of the FML leave by paying only the employee cost of any such benefits.
• Following the unpaid leave start date, the employee will receive a packet in the mail from the UA Human Resources Leave Management team which includes:
  • A form to waive, change or continue the existing benefits;
  • A bill with the itemized employee benefit cost and payment schedule;
  • Other helpful information