Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA)
Effective February 5, 1994, employees of The City University of New York covered by a collective bargaining agreement, became eligible for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Prior to the enactment of the Family Medical Leave Act, CUNY employees had provisions in their collective bargaining agreements covering several of the leave categories within the law e.g., temporary disability and childcare. When leaves are approved for employees in accordance with University regulations, that are also permissible under FMLA, they shall be concurrently counted toward use of the 12 week FMLA leave entitlement during the university designated FMLA leave year (September 1- August 31).
Effective January 16, 2009, the FMLA was amended to allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in the applicable 12-month period for any “qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that a covered military member is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty, in support of a contingency operation. It also was amended to provide up to 26 weeks of leave during a single 12 month period to care for a covered service member of the Armed Forces (including the National Guard or Reserves) with a serious injury or illness.
According to the 2010 amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act, familial relations now defines persons in loco parentis to include those with day-to-day responsibilities to care for or financially support a child where the employee tends to assume the responsibilities of a parent with regard to a child, or, in the case of an employee, who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child.
Employees are eligible for FMLA leave if they have worked at a CUNY College for at least twelve (12) months, and for at least 1,250 hours during the year preceding the leave.
The United States Department of Labor has determined that all full-time salaried employees, such as full-time faculty in institutions of higher education who have worked for the employer for at least 12 months are presumed to have met the 1,250 hours of service requirement for FMLA eligibility.
Employees of the CUNY Research Foundation or any other separately incorporated employer affiliated with CUNY or a CUNY College are not CUNY employees and are not covered by these guidelines.
Further information on the policy and forms are available at the Human Resources website.