Family and Medical Leave of Absence (FMLA)

Establishing Eligibility For Leave:

Employees who have at least 12 months of total service, and who have worked at least 1250 hours during the preceding 12-months immediately preceding the commencement leave, who work at a WVEMS location where at least 50 employees are working within a 75-mile radius, will be granted a total of up to 12 weeks’ unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The amount of FMLA leave available to the employee is determined by examining the amount of FMLA leave taken in the preceding 12-month period, measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave. This is referred to as the “rolling 12-month period” method of calculation.

Establishing Leave Eligibility:

A. Due to the birth of a child of the employee and in order to care for the newborn child.

B. Due to the placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.

C. In order to care for the employee's spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition.

D. Because of the employee's serious health condition which makes the employee unable to perform the functions of their current position.

E.Because an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) is called to active duty in the Uniformed Services of the United States.

F.In order to care for a “recovering active duty service member” (spouse, child, parent, or nearest blood relative). (Up to 26 weeks in a single 12-month period)

A recovering service member, as in (F) is defined as a member of the Uniformed Services of the United States who suffered an injury or illness while on active duty that renders the person unable to perform the duties of the person’s office, grade, rank, or rating.

Covered family members are also eligible for up to 26 weeks of leave to care for veterans who are undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy for a serious injury or illness and who were members of the Uniformed Services of the United States (including the National Guard or Reserves) at any time during the five years preceding the date of treatment, therapy, or recuperation.

Application For Leave/Advance Notice:

An employee requesting FMLA leave must provide WVEMS with at least 30 days advance notice before leave is to begin, if the need for the leave is foreseeable, based on an expected birth, placement for adoption or foster

care, or planned medical treatment for a serious health condition of the employee or of a family member. If 30 days’ notice is not practicable due to a lack of knowledge of approximately when leave will be required to begin, a change in circumstances, or a medical emergency, notice must be given as soon as practicable.

“As soon as practicable” ordinarily would mean at least verbal notification to the Company within one or two business days of when the need for leave becomes known to the employee, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Employees must submit a written request to the President indicating the dates on which the leave will begin and end.

If you fail to give 30 days’ advance notice for foreseeable leave with no reasonable excuse for the delay, WVEMS may deny the taking of leave until at least 30 days after the date you provide notice to the Agency of the need for the leave.

Treatment Schedules:

When planning medical treatment, you should consult with your Supervisor and make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to disrupt unduly the Agency’s operations, subject to the approval of the health care provider. Employees are ordinarily expected to consult with their Supervisor prior to the scheduling of treatment in order to work out a treatment schedule that best suits the needs of both the Agency and the employee. WVEMS may, for justifiable cause, require an employee to attempt to reschedule treatment, subject to the ability of the health care provider to reschedule the treatment and the approval of the health care provider as to any modification of the treatment schedule.

Medical Certification:

WVEMS may require that an employee’s request for leave to care for the employee’s seriously-ill spouse, child, or parent, or due to the employee’s own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the employee’s position, be supported by a certification issued by the health care provider of the employee or of the employee’s ill family member. The Agency will give written notice of a requirement for medical certification and will allow 15 calendar days to do so.

In the case of foreseeable leave, an employee who fails to provide timely certification after being requested by the Agency to furnish such certification (e.g., within 15 calendar days, if practicable) may be denied the taking of leave until the required certification is provided.

If you fail to provide a medical certification within a reasonable time under the pertinent circumstances, WVEMS may deny your continuation of leave.

WVEMS reserves the right to require the employee requesting FMLA leave for the reason listed in (C), (D), and (F) to provide additional Certifications of Need. Any cost associated with completing the initial form will be the employee’s responsibility; however, any costs associated with additional forms will be paid by the Agency. Depending upon the circumstances, medical recertification may be required every 30 days. If both spouses are employees of WVEMS, they will be entitled to an annual combined total of 12 weeks’ leave for birth, adoption, foster placement, or to care for a seriously ill parent. However, each is still entitled to the difference between the amount of leave they have individually taken for those purposes and the amount of leave (up to 12 weeks) needed for their own, their spouse’s or their child’s serious health condition.

Group Healthcare Premiums:

Group health plan benefits will be continued on the same basis as coverage would have been provided if the employee had been continuously employed during the leave period. Therefore, the share of health plan premiums that you had been paying prior to leave must continue to be paid by you during the leave period. If premiums are raised or lowered, you would be required to pay the new premium rates.

While WVEMS will continue to maintain health benefits, the Agency’s obligations to maintain health insurance coverage will cease if an employee’s premium payment is more than 30 days late. All other employee entitlements would continue.

WVEMS will recover the cost of any premium payments missed by you for any leave period during which the Agency continues your health coverage. Such recovery shall be accomplished by deductions from future compensation or any other amount that may be due you.

Benefits During Leave:

Length of service and other benefits will not accrue during the unpaid portion of the leave, but length of service and other unused benefits accrued prior to the leave will be fully credited and available upon return from leave.

All accrued paid time off benefits must be exhausted prior to using leave without pay. FMLA will run concurrently with Workers’ Compensation benefits and maternity leave.

Intent To Return To Work:

WVEMS requires that employees report every two weeks on their status and intent to return to work while on leave.

Ability (Inability) To Return To Work:

As a condition of restoring an employee whose leave was occasioned by the employee’s own serious health condition that made the employee unable to perform their job, the Agency requires all employees who take leave for these conditions to obtain and present certification from their health care provider that the employee is able to resume work in the employee’s former position or in a specific equivalent position.

Employees returning from a Family Medical Leave must furnish their supervisor with a physician’s statement releasing them to return to work and the date of their return. WVEMS may deny restoration to employment until an employee submits the required fitness-for-duty certification.

When an employee is unable to return to work after FMLA leave because of the continuation, recurrence, or onset of a serious health condition, WVEMS may require medical certification of the employee’s or the family member’s serious health condition. The employee is required to provide medical fitness-for-duty certification within 30 days from the date of the Agency’s request.

Leave taken under this policy will be counted against the employee’s annual FMLA 12-week entitlement.

Time not worked because of leave under this policy will not be counted against an employee’s attendance record.

Key Employee Exceptions:

Under specified and limited circumstances where restoration to employment will cause substantial and grievous economic injury to its operations, WVEMS may refuse to reinstate certain highly-paid “key” employees after using FMLA leave during which health benefits are maintained.

A “key” employee is a salaried “eligible” employee who is among the highest paid 10% of employees. At the time leave is requested, the employee will be advised regarding “key employee status.”

Failure To Return From Leave:

If an employee fails to return to their scheduled work after an FMLA leave, employment will be considered voluntarily terminated as of the first scheduled workday the employee misses following the expiration of their approved leave. If the employee is covered by WVEMS’s group health insurance, they will become eligible for conversion rights at that time, according to policy provisions.

When an employee exhausts their 12 weeks of FMLA and is unable to return to work, the employee loses job protection. However, if the employee is a qualified individual with a disability within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act As Amended (ADAAA), the Agency will consider if reasonable accommodations can be made (barring undue hardship on the business operations) to allow the employee to perform the essential functions of their job. Reasonable accommodation might involve an extension of the time off or an extension of the employee’s reduced work schedule that was in place.

Earning Income Or Working At Another Job While On FMLA Leave:

If an employee works at another job or is earning income during the FMLA-designated leave without prior written approval by WVEMS, the Agency will assume that the employee has resigned their position and terminate the employee’s employment.

Policy No.  3.81  Issued  1/1/2019  Applicable  12/13/2018