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Employee Leave Toolkit
Practical Law Toolkit 9-505-4719 (Approx. 36 pages)
Employee Leave Toolkit
by Practical Law Labor & Employment
| Maintained • USA (National/Federal) |
Jurisdiction neutral resources to help employers comply with the legal requirements associated with employees taking leaves of absence from work. For state-specific resources, see State Employee Leave Toolkit.
Employers often struggle to comply with their legal obligation to provide job-protected leave from employment. There is no single, uniform rule governing leave. Instead, leave law is made up of multiple, complex, and interrelated rules.
Failure to comply with leave law requirements can result in substantial legal and financial consequences. For example, employers may be required to pay lost wages, double damages, and attorneys' fees. Additional legal consequences may include mandated employee reinstatement or promotion and other injunctive relief.
Understanding the core requirements of employee leave law helps employers avoid penalties and promote compliance. An employee may need a leave of absence for:
- Personal disability or illness. Leave necessitated because of an employee's health implicates a number of federal statutes that define coverage and rules for when, how, and to whom leave must be granted. Relevant federal laws include:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) (42 U.S.C. § 2000e); and
- Workplace health and safety issues. Employees may need to take a leave of absence because of illness or injury on the job that may require an understanding of workers' compensation and laws relevant to an outbreak of pandemic disease.
- Family disability or illness. The FMLA requires covered employers to offer leave to eligible employees who need time to care for family members.
- Pregnancy or parental obligations. Pregnancy-related conditions may be regarded as a disability under federal law and pregnant employees may be entitled to disability leave. New parents are also authorized to take job-protected leave under the FMLA.
- Military service obligations. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects an employee's right to return to work after returning from qualifying military service.
- Health care reform issues. Health care reform's employer mandate rules also relate to leave law because of the exclusion for USERRA, FMLA, and jury duty (collectively referred to as "special unpaid leave") for purposes of calculating who is a full-time employee (see Practice Note, Employer Mandate Under the ACA: Determining Full-Time Employees for Employer Penalties: Exclusion for FMLA, USERRA, and Jury Duty Leave).
State laws may impose additional or different obligations on employers, including leave for jury duty, witness testimony, voting, or blood donation. For information about state-specific leave laws, see State Employee Leave Toolkit.
This Employee Leave Toolkit provides information on best practices for responding to employee leave issues, including resources to help employers respond to leave requests, comply with leave laws, and minimize litigation risk.