FMLA & Pay: How does it work?
Have you ever had to call into work for an illness or injury, but after realizing how much pay you’d lose, a great chasm of uncertainty and concern stretched out beneath you? You’re divided. You’re frayed between a need for wellness and financial stability. Phone in hand, you cut the call before it ever makes it through. The imbalance hits harder on your wellness than you might expect. Next time you jump across the great divide and the scale tips once more. Your bank account takes the hit this time. The charm of uncertainty and concern deepens. This imbalance, too, hits harder on your wellness than you would think. And so, the circle continues.
When does it end?
Let’s picture another scenario. There’s an instance when you know you have time off coming up for medical needs — when it’s unavoidable. You need this time. Be it surgery, family care, or parental leave, time off is inevitable, but how are you going to survive? And what about your pay? Your employer approved your leave of absence. You’ve got that assurance that when you come back, your job is in place. While you’re out, your benefits should be intact. Ideally. FMLA means you’ve got everything protected — including your pay, right?
Well. Not so much.
Choosing between your financial stability and your health, or the health of a loved one, should never be such a difficult situation. Yet, with taking time off for health and wellness, answering that age-old question of how to recoup your losses can be one of the most stressful to navigate.
Be it unexpected or planned, receiving automatic payments during your time off is a rarity. Inevitably, you may need to take action or navigate a complex web of payment options during a vulnerable moment. Like entering a parking lot full of used car salespersons, it’s best to come prepared knowing your options and preferences. You likely have options, too. Perhaps more than you realized! We’ll go over some potential options available to you during time off that could replace your income.
Please Note: While we are reviewing instances of FMLA leave of absence, these may also apply to other times you may need off work (such as paid time off benefits with your employer). In these instances, I recommend following any further reading and always checking your employer’s policies and procedures first.
FIRST OF ALL- WHAT IS FMLA, AND WILL IT PAY ME?
FMLA, or the Family and Medical Leave Act, is a federal labor law that provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave of absence within a 12-month period. Under this law, approved time off is considered job and benefit protected for eligible employees for certain qualifying instances.
To be eligible for FMLA, you must:
- Work for an employer that employs 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius
- Have physically worked a minimum of 1250 hours or more within the 12 months immediately preceding the start of your leave of absence
- Work for your employer for at least 12 months before the start of the leave.
You will also need to have experienced a qualifying event that prevents you from working or is causing you to miss work either on a continuous, intermittent, or reduced schedule basis. Some qualifying events may include:
- Caring for your serious health condition
- Caring for a family member’s health condition
- Family members include: child, spouse, or parent
- In loco parentis: The law defines “in loco parentis” as including those with day-to-day responsibilities to care for or provide financial support for a child. This may pertain to those who have no biological or legal relationship with a child, but there’s an expectation to provide care in place of a guardian. Similarly, you may be eligible to take leave to care for someone who stood in loco parentis to you when you were a child.
3. Caring for and/or bonding with a child under 18 for new birth, placement, or foster care.
4. Some instances of military exigency and caring for a family member injured during active duty.
For more information on FMLA, in-depth, please check out our article on FMLA!
The greatest benefit to FMLA is the job and benefits protection it provides. These benefits include:
- Your employer cannot hold approved absences under the FMLA against you in disciplinary review or performance evaluations
- Absences approved under FMLA should not count as occurrences or points toward your employer’s attendance policy.
- Please note: your employer’s policy may have specific reporting and approval requirements under FMLA that you will want to follow during your time off.
3. Your employer should maintain your benefits as if you were still an active, working employee.
However, FMLA on its own is an unpaid benefit. If you are off work, you may have opportunities to recoup lost compensation. This depends on your employer’s policies, or the availability of state paid leave benefits. You likely have options for supplementing your pay during your time off, though, and that’s what I’m here to help you decipher. Let’s see what’s out there and available!
I already know this, Steve. Just take me to the pay already!
EMPLOYER PAID TIME OFF (PTO)
There is no federal law that requires employers to provide paid time off. According to the Department of Labor, “these benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.”
Brutal.
Despite this, many employers today still provide paid time off as part of their benefits package. This is to increase their retention rates and add a competitive edge in recruiting. In addition, many states now require employers to provide Paid Sick Leave to employees. We’ll delve into Paid Sick Leave later.
If your employer offers paid time off as a benefit, you may have an option to supplement your pay while on leave of absence with your paid time off. In some organization, they may label this as PTO or vacation pay. Some employers may require you to use your paid time off while on leave of absence. You will always want to check with your employer policies on paid time off usage.
When there are no state options or additional benefits available, paid time off may be your only option for being paid during a leave of absence without reaching out to outside sources for help.
SHORT-TERM DISABILITY (STD) & LONG-TERM DISABILITY (LTD)
Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability plans are usually a benefit through your employer, if available. Your employer may fund these, or you may pay a premium as part of your benefits eligibility. Benefits may be managed within your company or outsourced to a third-party administrator.
Some key information to know about most Short-Term Disability (STD) Plans:
- Most plans have a waiting period, anywhere from 3 days to 30 days or more. These waiting periods are unpaid.
- Some plans may have a “pre-existing condition” clause. This means if you are newly eligible for the benefit, and are applying for the benefit for a condition that existed during the timeframe the plan specifies in your eligibility period, then you may not be eligible for benefits. The benefit representative will best explain your specific timeframe (either within your company or a third-party contact).
- Some plans may not provide you with full wage replacement. Most common plans provide 50–66% of an employee’s base wages. In those instances, some employees may choose to take the remaining unpaid or supplement with their paid time off benefits.
- Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability plans run on a distinct set of regulations and timeframes. You may find decisions and payouts take longer. Case Managers of these claims will probably need additional medical records and information prior to approval of these benefits, as well.
Highlights about Long-Term Disability (LTD) Plans To Keep in Mind:
- Long-Term Disability often comes into play only when Short-Term Disability benefits run out. Short-Term Disability plan lengths vary, but the most common is 26–52 weeks.
- Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability benefits do not provide job or benefit protection. These are for wage replacement only.
- Long-Term Disability usually pays similarly to Short-Term Disability or lesser.
- The waiting period for Long-Term Disability is commonly the length of the Short-Term Disability benefit. For example, if the maximum length of a Short-Term Disability benefit is 26 weeks, then the waiting period for Long-Term Disability is likely 26 weeks.
WORKER’S COMPENSATION
If your injury or exposure to illness occurred in the workplace while on duty, you may be eligible for wage replacement under Worker’s Compensation benefits.
Management of these benefits varies by state and I would encourage following up with your employer in these instances. This may be with your supervisor, Human Resources representative, or even an Employee Health nurse. In the state of Washington, for example, the state’s Labor & Industries department manages Worker’s Compensation benefits. In California, every single employer must have Worker’s Compensation insurance even if they only have one employee. Even waiting periods and payouts can vary.
Here are some examples of paid benefits you could receive under worker’s compensation:
- Medical care
- Temporary disability
- Permanent disability
- Supplemental job displacement
- Return-to-work supplement
- Death benefits
STATE PAID LEAVE PROGRAMS
Currently, there are only seven states, and the District of Columbia, with active paid leaves available. There are another four states with paid leave programs expected to become active within 2022–2025.
Some state paid leave programs offer job protection, and most won’t cover 100% of your wages while off work. In these instances, check with your employer if you can use paid time off to make your pay whole.
Below, please find a breakdown of states with active or upcoming paid leave programs available:
PAID SICK LEAVE (PSL) & OTHER LOCAL BENEFITS
Many states and cities require employers to offer Paid Sick Leave (PSL) to employees and benefits will depend on your state and local ordinances. These are often based on how many hours you work or a set amount of time provided per year.
For instance, in the state of Washington, an employee can expect to earn 0.025 hours of paid, protected time off for every hour worked under their Paid Sick Leave law. That equates to one hour of Paid Sick Leave for every 40 hours worked. As a full-time employee working 40 hours per week, that’s 52 hours of protected, paid time off available when you need it!
Sometimes, these benefits may not roll over into a new year, so it could be a use it or lose it benefit.
Because each state and city can vary, I recommend checking with your employer first as a resource, as well as your state and local employment departments.
For a helpful overview of options within your state or city, Paycor’s Resource Center offers a chart of Paid Sick Leave Laws on its website. You should only use this chart for informational purposes. Always keep in mind your front-line resources: your employer’s posted policies and procedures, and that of your state and local employment departments.
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, THERE MAY BE HELP IN UNLIKELY PLACES…
What if we’ve gone through the options laid out so far, and we’re still coming up short? Or worse yet, the situation is more like… “none of the above”?
We may have to consider one of the most difficult things we must sometimes do as humans: reach out for help. Reveal your vulnerable side, and hope that the hand that’s extended out is in kindness. Accepting that kindness into our lives. As uncomfortable an adventure as it may be, the experience of community-minded compassion may be the resource you need.
Through Your Employer and/or Local Community
Paid Time Off (PTO) Donation Programs or emergency grants may be available within your organization. PTO Donations may be a pool of donations collected over time from employees or donated to you, depending on your employer’s policy. These pools can also be called Sick Leave banks. Sometimes employers may create a donation pool on a case-by-case basis.
Regarding Emergency grants, payroll contributions or employer-only contributions often fund these programs. There may be other types of programs with your employer that have financial support available. Check with your Human Resources representative with your employer on what is available. In addition, they may have additional resources within your local community they can direct you to.
Through Crowdfunding and Global Community Outreach
You could also consider a crowdfunding campaign. For those of you who are just as hesitant as I am to ask for help, just hear me out.
There is no shame in utilizing a crowdfunding platform when you are facing challenging circumstances. That’s what they are here for, and you never know the help that is available until you open yourself up to it.
Popular crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Indiegogo, YouCaring, and GiveForward are great resources. Donors are browsing these sites every day, seeking to help those in need. People just like you. According to GoFundMe’s 2021 Giving Report, donors made one donation every second to help people across the globe. If your local community lacks resources, why not go global?
Start with your inner circle, with your social media network, and let it expand from there. You might surprise yourself.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Navigating a leave of absence can be a daunting experience. An employee once shared a delightful anecdote about trying to navigate her maternity leave years before the organization had a designated leave representative to assist. She likened the experience to a spiraling tower of paperwork and, beyond that, a revolving door of cantankerous dragons that forced her to repeat the same story- over, and over, and over again. She hadn’t wanted to go through the experience again. Who would?
We met that afternoon in my office. Trish brought free coffee from the employee cafe. Two steaming foam cups and a color-coded packet between us, we spent the next 45 minutes together, immersed in conversation as equals. We chatted about the basics of FMLA, the Absence Management ecosystem, and the pay options that would affect her decisions while off work. We commiserated on her recent health concerns and, to lighten the air, how much we loved the free coffee at work. When her leave of absence ended, she commented on the unimpressive the tower was this time around. The dragons behind the revolving door weren’t as intimidating. I’m pretty sure she was the first person I hugged since the pandemic began.
I am honored and humbled working with Trish and others like her. There’s a level of trust needed to share your vulnerabilities with another person. It’s important to respect that trust. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the person we communicate with is a human with deep feelings and a complex life that we know very little, if nothing, about. It’s especially easy to forget when the power dynamics are unequal.
It can be a nerve-wracking experience to communicate with your employer, especially when it involves your health and pay. When you’re already on unstable ground, it can be overwhelming without a good understanding of the path you’re on. It’s enough to prevent someone from taking time off altogether. But that’s the last thing I want — is for you to be afraid to take the time off you need. The more knowledge I can provide you, the more power you have when the unexpected occurs.
If financial stability has prevented you from taking the time you need, I hope this proves to be a helpful resource and the road ahead seems less daunting. Have you considered a leave of absence before, but decided not to pursue it? Why didn’t you? What fears have you faced in taking time off from work? What obstacles or hurdles have you encountered? Let’s talk about these barriers and see what we can do about overcoming them, or maybe even discover a way to get rid of them altogether!
Until next time, take care of yourselves and remember: No one is a number — including you. You deserve to know what benefits are available to you, and how to best use them.
Check out the following resources to learn more about Absence Management and your rights as an employee:
- US Department of Labor/Wage and Hour Division for FMLA: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla
- Your local state and/or city governing employment offices. If you need help locating these, please leave a comment or use our contact page and we will help wherever we can!
- ADA: https://www.ada.gov/
- EEOC: https://www.eeoc.gov/
- USA Labor Laws: https://www.usa.gov/labor-laws
DISCLAIMER: This blog post is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to provide specific legal or professional advice. It does not create an attorney/legal-client relationship. In addition to federal laws, state laws vary from state to state, and this post should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.
