Employee Responsibilities
- Employees are required to notify the employer they might need to be on leave at least 30 days in advance or as soon as possible.
- Application: Submit an application for a leave. Please review the information about types of leaves, eligibility, and application steps here. If you are not sure which leave to apply to, please call the HR LOA office.
- Medical documentation: If medical documentation is required for your type of leave, it will be emailed to you. You must ensure medical documentation is fully completed by a doctor and returned either to FMLA Source or to the HR office in a timely manner. Please note, completed medical paperwork must be returned to the office which issued the paperwork. So, if you received medical documentation from the FMLA Source, you must return it to FMLA Source, not to HR. Sending incomplete forms or sending forms to the wrong office will cause a delay in processing and possibly denial of leave.
- Please note, no medical forms will be issued unless the employee has submitted an application (requested the leave).
- Please also note, random doctor’s notes submitted to HR or FMLA Source will not be processed. If you are submitting documents other than the standard FMLA form, please also provide a note with an explanation or leave number.
- Approval process: When leave is approved, an employee will receive a decision letter with dates and details of the approved leave. Please notify your direct supervisor your leave was approved as soon as you receive a decision letter.
- Calling-off procedures: You are required to follow your department’s call-off procedures and you should call off every shift you are scheduled to work until you receive a decision letter.
- If you have an appointment or treatment scheduled, you have to notify your direct supervisor in advance.
- Reporting: Continuous FMLA and Reduced Hours will be recorded automatically with FMLA Source. No need to report.
- FMLA reporting is required for Intermittent leaves. Intermittent leaves must be reported by an employee to FMLA Source within 24 hours after usage. This is in addition to calling off with the department. Reporting instructions are here on page 2. You report absence via phone call, email, website, or phone app. When reporting, you must specify the leave number you are calling off for, how many hours you missed, and if the absence was an appointment/treatment or incident (call-off).
- Payroll reporting (sick time use) is required for all leaves. FMLA and non-FMLA leaves are unpaid. In order to get paid, employees should report sick time use. Hourly employees on Health Science Campus should report intermittent FMLA usage via API. Hourly employees on the Main Campus should report FMLA usage via TimeClock. Salaried employees and faculty members on autopay have to submit their time off via the Leave Reporting tool. FMLA time off should be reported as FMLA-sick or FMLA-vacation or FMLA-unpaid.
- Employees on a leave are required to exhaust all sick and vacation time prior to going unpaid. If your leave is denied, an absence will be recorded as regular sick time or unpaid and might be grounds for discipline.
- If a Return-to-Work slip is required, it will be emailed to you with the initial medical paperwork. Completed RTW slip should be sent to HR prior to returning to work. Please notify your direct supervisor prior to returning to work. If an employee is able to return earlier from their leave, they must notify the department as soon as possible. If an employee cannot return from their leave on the anticipated return to work date, they must notify their department as soon as possible.
- If an employee needs accommodation after returning from their leave of absence (reduced hours or light duty), please contact the ADA office prior to returning to work.
- Please also make sure to review your union contract if you are in a union position.