New “rolling” method for calculating FMLA period beginning Jan. 1, 2020

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons leave within a 12-month period. Effective January 1, 2020, the University of Florida will begin calculating an employee’s entitlement to a “rolling” 12-month period, measured backward from the date of an employee’s first use of FMLA leave for a given qualifying event.

This method will ensure that all UF employees have access to the FMLA entitlement, provide employees with greater transparency into the process and a more efficient service delivery model. In addition, this change will better balance the continuity of businesses operations and ease of administration. This announcement fulfills the requirement to provide 60-days’ notice of the change to all employees.

During the 60-day transition period, any employee who takes FMLA between now and December 31, 2019 will do so under whichever 12-month period is of the greatest benefit to that employee. Please note that employees covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) containing FMLA-measurement language will continue to follow the respective negotiated CBA terms.

Current method: The University of Florida currently uses the fiscal year (July 1^st thru June 30^th) as the 12-month period for calculating an eligible employee’s 12-week FMLA entitlement. Using this method, an eligible employee is entitled to 12-weeks of FMLA at the beginning of each fiscal year (July 1^st).

New Method: Beginning January 1, 2020, the University of Florida’s method for calculating the 12-month period will change to a “rolling” 12-month period measured backward from the date of an employee’s first use of FMLA leave for a given qualifying event.

• Example 1: An employee requests to begin FMLA leave on March 1, 2020. Looking backward to March 1, 2019, the employee has used no FMLA leave during the 12-month period. Therefore, the employee has a balance of 12 weeks FMLA leave that can be utilized for a qualifying event.

 

• Example 2: An employee requests to begin FMLA leave on March 1, 2020. Looking backward to March 1, 2019, the employee used 4 weeks of FMLA in April 2019, and 4 weeks in May 2019 for a total of 8 weeks over that 12-month period. The employee is entitled at the time of this request to 4 weeks of FMLA (12-week entitlement minus the 8 weeks already taken), with an additional 4 weeks becoming available in May 2020 and another 4 weeks becoming available in June 2020.

 

Employees that are currently on an approved FMLA leave during the current Fiscal Year (prior to January 2020) will continue to be in a certified and approved status through the end of the identified FMLA period. For these employees there is no need for any action to be taken, until the time already approved has ended, or additional FMLA is requested.

 

For questions regarding this change, contact UFHR Central Leave at 392-2477 or visit the website at https://benefits.hr.ufl.edu/time-away/fmla/ and see the FAQ’s.