What is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that grants employees in California up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons. It provides a way for employees to balance their work and family life by taking time off for the birth and care of a newborn child, adoption of a child, to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or to address their own serious health condition. To qualify for FMLA, an employee must have worked at their company for at least 12 months and have worked 1,250 hours over the past 12 months. FMLA also provides job protection; this means that an employee’s job or equivalent position will be held for them for up to 12 weeks while they are away on FMLA leave. This ensures that the employee can return to their job or a similar job with the same pay and benefits that they had prior to their leave. In addition, the employee’s health benefits must be maintained while they are away on FMLA leave. By providing job-protected and unpaid leave, FMLA enables employees to prioritize family and health without being penalized or risking their job security. This law helps to protect Californian employees from being discriminated against in the workplace due to taking time off to care for their family and their own health needs.
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