129.00 FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

It shall be the policy of Cowley County Community College to provide rights and benefits to all its qualified employees, as such qualified employees are defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA or the "Act"), that are at least equal to the rights and benefits established by FMLA.

1. A qualified employee of Cowley County Community College is eligible to take FMLA leave if he or she, prior to taking FMLA leave, was employed by the College for at least twelve (12) consecutive months immediately preceding the date such FMLA leave begins, and worked at least 1,250 hours during the year preceding the start of the leave.
2. An eligible employee is entitled to take up to twelve (12) weeks of FMLA leave in any rolling 12-month period.   Married couples both employed at Cowley College are entitled to the aggregate number of workweeks of leave to which both may be entitled.
3. FMLA leave may be taken “intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule” under certain circumstances.  Intermittent leave is FMLA leave taken in separate blocks of time due to a single qualifying reason.  A reduced leave schedule is a leave schedule that reduces an employee’s usual number of working hours per workweek, or hours per workday.  A reduced leave schedule is a change in the employee’s schedule for a period of time, normally from full-time to part-time.
4. With the College's approval, qualified employees taking FMLA leave for the birth, placement for adoption, or foster care placement of a child, leave to care for a serious health condition of a spouse, son, daughter or parent, or because of an employee's own serious health condition which makes the employee unable to perform his or her job, may be taken when allowed under FMLA as medically necessary.
5. Eligible employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave because of “any qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call to active duty status, in support of a contingency operation.  By the terms of the statute, this provision requires the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations defining “any qualifying exigency” and this provision is not effective until the Secretary of Labor issues final regulations.   In the interim, the College will provide this type of leave to qualifying employees to the extent possible without the guidance from final regulations.
6. An eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a “covered service member” (as that term is defined in the amendments to the Act) who is recovering from a serious illness or injury sustained in the line of duty on active duty is entitled to up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for the servicemember.  During the single 12-month period, combined FMLA leave, including leave to care for the servicemember, cannot exceed 26 workweeks.  This limitation is also applied to the aggregate number of workweeks of combined FMLA leave to which a husband and wife employed by the College are entitled to receive in the single 12 months period.  For purposes of this policy, the College also incorporates the definitions of “outpatient status” in respect to a covered servicemember, “next of kin” and “serious injury or illness” in the case of a member of the Armed Forces as defined in the amendments to the Act.   
7. FMLA leave is an unpaid leave, however, the College will substitute accrued sick leave under certain circumstances permitted by FMLA. Similarly, the College will require an employee to substitute other paid leave as permitted by FMLA.
8. The College will maintain benefits coverage and continue contributions under its then existing group Health/Dental plan during any period of FMLA leave and under the conditions that the coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued in employment continuously for the duration of such leave.
9. The College will post in the College Employee Services Office a notice describing the Act's provisions. The College will provide additional notice and information to employees on entitlements and obligations for FMLA leave, through employee handbooks and by furnishing written guidance when employees request FMLA leave.
10. Qualified employees of the College must give thirty (30) days advance notice to the College of the need to take unpaid FMLA leave when the leave is foreseeable for the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child, or for planned medical treatment for the qualified employee or a member of the qualified employee's immediate family. When this is not possible, such notice must be given "as soon as practicable", ordinarily between one or two business days of when the employee first learns of the need for the leave. Verbal notice to the College shall be sufficient to satisfy the notice requirements of FMLA.
11. The College will require medical certification from a health care provider to support an FMLA leave request either to care for an employee's seriously ill family member or for leave due to a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the function or his or her job. Qualified employees must provide such certification "in a timely manner', which is generally defined by FMLA regulations as within fifteen (15) days. The College shall have the option, at its sole expense, to require a second opinion as to medical certification of a serious illness; and the College shall have the option to require a fitness for duty report as a prerequisite to an employee's return to work after a serious personal illness.

Adopted October 18, 1993
Revised June 19, 2000
Reviewed July 21, 2003
Revised August 14, 2006
Revised August 11, 2008