What is FMLA?

1. The employee's serious health condition;
2. The birth and care of the employee's child;
3. Placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care;
4. Care of the employee's spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition;
5. Because of a "qualifying exigency" relating to the active-duty status or call to active-duty in the armed forces of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the employee, including those contingencies set forth in the applicable regulations.

Read more about Family and Medical Leave.

Types of FMLA Leave

There are two types of FMLA leave:

• Continuous: leave is for a consecutive number of days
• Intermittent: leave is taken in separate blocks of time or you work a reduced schedule

Who is Eligible for FMLA?

In order to be eligible for FMLA leave, you must:

• Be employed at Penn for at least 12 months
• Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the start of your leave

How Does FMLA Work?

Navigating FMLA policies can often be confusing and overwhelming. Please reach out to Emma Grigore to discuss your situation and how FMLA and other resources can help you.

If you’re taking FMLA leave for your own serious health condition or pregnancy:

When you expect to be unable to work due to serious illness, injury, or pregnancy, you must submit an application for FMLA that will require information from your physician.

If FMLA is approved and you are a grade 28 or below full-time staff member you will be required to use your sick time followed by PTO for the first 10 days (the “waiting period”). After the 10-day waiting period, your leave will be paid as follows

• 100% of base pay for up to 6 weeks.
• 75% of base pay for up to an additional 18 weeks.
• The maximum amount of time that you will be paid is the lesser of 26 weeks or the length of time that your physician certifies you as disabled. Employees on leave for pregnancy will be deemed to be disabled for 8 weeks after delivery unless the physician states otherwise. Employees who elect to remain out of work longer than 8 weeks after delivery will use their remaining PTO unless they notify their business administrator that they want to retain it. The remaining FMLA leave will be unpaid.
• Faculty and staff grades 29 and above are still covered under Policy #613.

If you’re taking FMLA leave for reasons other than your own serious health condition or pregnancy: 

You may use up to 5 sick days in a calendar year for approved leaves for reasons other than your own serious health condition or pregnancy (paternity, adoption, foster care and care of a family member with a serious health condition). You must substitute unused PTO for the leave unless you notify your payroll coordinator that you want to retain 50% of your PTO balance.

The Process In A Nutshell

1. Contact GSE HR to setup a meeting to review the process if you’d like assistance. This is optional.
2. Initiating a leave: Please follow the steps outlined in Self-Service: Request a Leave of Absence  to request a leave of absence through Workday.
3. Certification: Once the request is submitted, you will receive a notification email from Workday to complete the appropriate leave request forms. You can download a Leave Request Form kit that matches your desired leave from the Requesting a Leave of Absence webpage. To complete your leave request, you must have the forms completed by your physician and return them to the FMLA Administrator at the University via fax at 215-405-2929, or you can scan and email them to fmla@hr.upenn.edu. Your leave will remain “pending” in Workday until you return all required forms for approval.

• Leave of Absence - Paid Parental Leave   
• Leave of Absence - Care of a Family Member
• Leave of Absence - Military
• Leave of Absence - Serious Health Condition
• Leave of Absence - Pregnancy/Childbirth/Maternity

4. Returning to work: If you are cleared by a medical professional to return to work, please be sure to provide your medical clearance to the Penn FMLA Administrator in advance. For non-disability leaves, please follow the steps outlined in Self Service: Request Leave of Absence. If your return to work note contains restrictions that last more than one week, you must request an accommodation through the Office of Affirmative Action.

Additional Resources and Information

Navigating FMLA policies can often be confusing and overwhelming. Please reach out to Emma Grigore to discuss your situation and how FMLA and other resources can help you.

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)- Employees who return to work with restrictions for longer than one week must apply for an accommodation under this Act.
• Long-Term Disability- contact Melissa Smith
• Department of Labor- FMLA Guide