The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected and unpaid leave for qualifying conditions (medical or family), which include: personal or family illness, military service, family military leave, birth of a child, adoption or foster care placement of a child.*Please refer to Board Policy: GBBDA-Family Medical Leave for more information.

Employees must have worked for the district for a total of 12 months and have physically worked at least 1250 hours over the previous 12 months.  An eligible employee will be granted up to a total of 12 workweeks (60 days) of unpaid leave during any 12-month period (whether taken as full leave or intermittently) and can use their PTO allotment.

An employee with an FMLA qualifying condition should submit the “Application for Medical Leave” form at least 30 days before the leave is to commence, when practicable, which can be accessed here or may use the mobile app.  When submission of the “Application for Medical Leave” 30 days in advance is not practicable, submit the request as early as is practicable.  In most cases, it should be practicable to provide notice of the need for leave either the same day as the need for leave becomes known, or the next business day.

Applications for medical leave should be received by Human Resources no later than by the 5^th consecutive day of absence.

• Employees who do not apply for medical leave by the above-stated timeline may have their attendance coded as unexcused, even when a doctor’s note is presented.

The District’s automated Leave Process can be accessed in the following manner:

Return any hard copies of medical forms to the employee relations clerk via fax to 314.989.8196, or email to svaldez@ssdmo.org.

Approved FMLA leave and use of PTO time run concurrently. Employees will be required to use their accrued sick, personal, vacation, and/or any other accrued leave during their FMLA absence. Therefore, employees will receive their paid accruals, and time on leave will also be considered protected FMLA leave and counted against their FMLA entitlement.  Once the accrued balances are exhausted, leave time will be unpaid; however, FMLA may continue up to 12 weeks (60 days) per 12-month rolling calendar.

Full leave is an absence of more than 5 consecutive days.

• Employees who are sick and as a result exceed five (5) consecutive PTO days per occurrence are required to provide a physician’s statement/medical release indicating an inability to work on the PTO days utilized due to illness – unless the absence is covered by the District’s FMLA Policy.
• When an employee is absent for 5 consecutive days, the attendance secretary must notify the Leave Clerk so that the district can reach out about leave of absence options.
• An employee who is absent for more than 5 consecutive days may take FMLA or a Non-Paid Leave of Absence. Otherwise, their time out will be coded as “unexcused” and “non-paid.”

Intermittent leave is periodic absences for doctor’s appointments, therapy appointments, or to care for flare-up conditions.  However, employees who are sick and unable to work in excess of 5 consecutive days, even while on intermittent FMLA, are required to provide a physician’s statement indicating an inability to work by the 6^th day of absence – physician’s statements may be faxed to 314.989.8196 or emailed to svaldez@ssdmo.org.

Employees who are accessing medical leave are not allowed to conduct any Special School District business at any Special School District location or any assigned partner district location.  This includes, but is not limited to trainings, workshops, extra-duty or secondary assignments, and ESY.

The district will maintain health insurance coverage for employees while on FMLA leave whenever such insurance was provided before the leave was taken and on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work.

The district will maintain the dependent coverage. However, when employees exhaust their paid leave and do not receive a paycheck, employees will need to contact the Insurance Department to make arrangements to continue to make their share of the premium payments.

Upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to the employee’s original job, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. An employee has no greater right to restoration or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been continuously employed.

Upon receipt of the leave application, the employee will receive an automated email acknowledging the request and will be sent the “FMLA Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities” (embedded within the email) which will indicate if the employee qualifies for FMLA under the federal guidelines. These notices will be sent to the employee’s SSD email unless otherwise noted on the leave application and will outline the employee’s responsibilities and what is provided to them through FMLA regulations. 

Once the employee has completed applying for medical leave, the autogenerated email sent to the employee will have an embedded link to obtain the “Certification for Healthcare Provider” form (either the version for “self” or “family member”) provide this form to the physician to complete and return to the employee relations leave clerk faxed to 314.989.8196 or to svaldez@ssdmo.org.   

Please be sure to print all 4 pages of the “Certification for Healthcare Provider” form to give to your physician.

For absences related to the birth of a child or the employee’s own serious health condition:

• Please print the “Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition” form. Employees will need to provide a copy of their job description to the doctor along with this form. Please contact Sarah Boyer to get a copy at 314.989.8211 or by contacting her at seboyer@ssdmo.org.

For absences related to the employee’s spouse, child, or parent:

• Print the “Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member’s Serious Health Condition” form and provide that version of the form to the doctor.

The Certification for Healthcare Provider form is due back to Human Resources 15 days after the “Application for Medical Leave” form is completed by the employee.

The district reserves the right to delay or deny FMLA when the employee fails to provide medical certification.

Once the “Certification for Healthcare Provider” form is received by the Employee Relations Leave Clerk, the employee will be informed via email whether leave will be designated as FMLA leave and counts towards their FMLA entitlement.  An approval or denial letter will be auto-generated and sent to the employee via SSD email.

The district may grant a District Medical Leave which is a maximum of 90 days (on a 2-year rolling calendar), provided proper medical certification is received by the Employee Relations Clerk. The same procedures are to be followed when taking an FMLA absence. The district will determine if the leave qualifies for FMLA. The employee will be notified in writing if approved for District Medical Leave. 

All leaves expire at the end of the fiscal year, June 30^th, and employees are required to submit new medical certifications for the new fiscal year.

The district may require employees to recertify at least every 6 months by submitting an updated “Certification of Health Care Provider” form to the Leave Clerk.  The district also reserves the right to request new medical information during the normal course of the employee’s leave, but not more often than every 30 days.

Staff are responsible for following their department’s attendance reporting procedures and for entering their own absences into WFM during their medical leave. Employees will also enter in their absences requesting a substitute if needed.  Staff members can also work with their attendance secretary to request a sub. 

The automated Leave Process will generate an email sent to both the secretary and supervisor informing them about when an employee is approved to take FMLA or District Medical Leave.

While on intermittent FMLA leave, it is the employee’s responsibility to report to their attendance secretary that they are accessing sick time under FMLA.  If this is not done, the employee’s attendance will follow the regular attendance policy and procedures and the time off will not be protected under FMLA.

Employees on full FMLA or District Medical Leave, for their own serious health condition, and/or out more than 5 consecutive days will be required to submit a medical release before returning to work.

Employees on full FMLA, or District Medical Leave – for a family member’s serious health condition will not need to provide a medical release before returning to work; however, the duration of leave is determined by the medical certification.  If more time is needed than the medical certification provides, a new doctor’s statement is required to be submitted to the employee relations leave clerk to excuse further absences.

Employees taking Intermittent FMLA do not need to provide a medical release for each absence unless requested by the Employee Relations Team or unless the absences result in the employee being out more than 5 consecutive days.

An FMLA-qualified employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks (60 days) of protected leave.  Maternity is considered a qualified absence and is covered by FMLA.  Accrued sick/personal time will be used while on leave. 

• Obstetrician: The first 6-8 weeks of leave to be certified by the employee’s obstetrician.
• Pediatrician: If the employee intends to take up to the full 12 weeks provided by FMLA, a letter from the pediatrician requesting “bonding time” is required to be submitted to the employee relations clerk, which can be faxed to 314.989.8196 or emailed to svaldez@ssdmo.org.

An employee taking maternity leave but not qualified for FMLA will be granted 6-8 weeks of leave. 

• Accrued sick/personal time will be used while on leave. The employee is expected to return upon being medically released by the physician.  The release must be submitted and received by human resources before returning to work.  This may be faxed to the employee relations clerk at 314.989.8196 or emailed to svaldez@ssdmo.org.

An employee injured at work and who is absent on worker’s compensation will also be considered on FMLA. FMLA and work comp will run concurrently, and hours absent due to work comp are not considered hours physically worked.

An employee has the option of taking a Non-Paid Leave of Absence with approval by BOE, submitted to the Chief People and Culture Officer, Mr. Philip Boyd. 

Non-Paid Leave of Absence may be granted as follows:

• up to 90 days (lifetime cap) for child-rearing and educational leave
• up to 30 days for general/personal reasons