Compliance Policies
Kareema L. Smith
Argosy University

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) offers employees with 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year this act also protects and preserves the employee’s job. Additionally, the employee will continue their health benefits during their leave of absence.

This act was put into place to support employees by offering a balance to their work and family lives by granting them permission to use unpaid leave (within reasonable time) for family and medical purposes. Also, it promotes the welfare of employers and encourages equal employment opportunity for all.
This act is to be governed by public agencies, public and private elementary, and businesses with 50 or more employees. By law the aforementioned agencies and business has to offer employees with 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for the following reasons – for the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee; for placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.
To take advantage of this benefit an employee must have worked for this group for at 12 months.
Time taken off work due to pregnancy complications can be counted against the 12 weeks of family and medical leave.

To take FMLA leave, please give your place of employment as much notice as possible. Ideally we would love to have a 30 day notice, but in the event that the circumstances are beyond anyone’s control and you will need to take leave with a short turn around please let us know as soon as possible. Please be aware that additionally information maybe request as a part of the leave granting process. One such document is a leave certification, this document.

In some cases way may require that an employee submit a certificate. This medical certification contains details provided by the employees medical provide detailing pertinent information and justification for leave with in the Family Medical Leave Act.

When returning to work from FMLA leave, a worker is allowed to return to the same job held when the leave started, or in some cases some employees were grant an equivalent job with equal benefits, and pay. Positions are held for employees on standard length maternity leaves consistent with the FMLA provisions. Furthermore, if a worker is no longer equipped with the knowledge needed for his role (perhaps new software was implemented while they were out on leave). The employer will have to offer this person some sort of training get this person abreast to the new software needed to effectively execute assignments.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) offers a federal order for the regulation of employee pension and welfare benefit plans which are offered by employers. ERISA contains various requirements that are supposed to guard the rights of employees and their beneficiaries who are participate in this plan. These protections include requirements relating to reporting and disclosure, participation, vesting, and benefit accrual, as well as plan funding. ERISA also controls the responsibilities of plan fiduciaries and other issues regarding the plan’s administration. ERISA holds many criteria’s that a plan must meet in order to receive satisfactory tax handlings, and ERISA also oversees plan termination.

The Comprehensive Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 COBRA requires that companies with twenty or more employees who offer group health plans give their workers and their families the means to get temporary extension of health coverage in circumstances where coverage would normally cease (i.e. being laid off). For the most part the COBRA insurance’s payments will be the burden of the employer/company, but there are some rules and regulations an employee will