Accrue Time when on FMLA

njjel · July 2006

Do you allow your employees to accrue paid time off when they are out on FMLA leave?

ray a · July 2006

Not after the first 30 days. Intermittent leave does not effect time off accrual.

marc · July 2006

In our shop, we only allow accrual if they are getting a paycheck through the use of leave banks. Once all leave banks are reduced to zero, no further accruals occur.

To my knowledge, the FMLA does not require leave accruals. The Act does tell us the we follow our benfits plans with respect to allowing the use of leave banks while off - and some plans, by the way, can exclude the use of these banks. I think that pretty rare though.

NaeNae55 · July 2006

Our accrual system is based on hours paid. So if the employee is paid (like holidays and PTO) then they accrue more leave time. If it is unpaid, they don't accrue any.

Look to your leave policy. If you normally give 2 weeks at year end, then the employee will have it coming even if they were out on FMLA. If you accrue based on time paid, then it will work like ours. Remember, employees who use FMLA are not supposed to lose any benefits they would have received if they had not been on FMLA. But you don't have to give them extra benefits either.

Good luck!

Nae

njjel · July 2006

Nae - Your point that ee's aren't to lose any benefits due to FMLA leave is exactly why I was asking the question. It seemed to me that if they would accrue time off if they were working that we would have to let them accrue time off while out on FMLA.

NaeNae55 · July 2006

That is so, unless your policy is set up like ours. Leave is based upon paid time. Of course, it is also based upon years with the company. So the time on FMLA still counts towards their total time with the company. They will still get bumped up to a higher accrual level on their anniversary date no matter how much FMLA time they took. But the actual hours of leave will depend on how many hours they get paid for. If they get paid the full pay period, they will get the full leave accrual for that pay period. If they only get paid for half, then they will only get half the regular accrual amount.

We also offer an extended sick leave of approx. 4 weeks to those who have been here 5 years or more. They have to have been out for 60 days straight to qualify for it. Under that case, the employee might use up their time and be on an unpaid/non-accrual status for awhile. After the 60 days kicks in, however, they will be paid the ESL benefit, and once again accrue leave. As I said, it only matters if they are paid or not. BTW, did I mention how lucky I have been not to have to administer this so far? Since I have been doing HR no one has used the ESL benefit, but I am sure it is only a matter of time. Thank goodness for computer systems!

Good luck!

Nae

njjel · July 2006

Thanks folks.

ray a · July 2006

Is time accrued based on actual hours worked or just being on the payroll? If is assumed that the accrual is based on hours worked then the ee would not be owed time while on any type of leave including FML. Since the DOL doesn't mandate paid time off, it comes down to consistent application of your policy.

WT · August 2006

Our policy is the same for Workers' Comp and other absences. Employees get accruals while on paid time. Once paid time is exhausted and they go off the payroll books, there are then no accruals.

bcolton · August 2006

We will allow accrual, as others have stated, if the employee is on paid time, either sick, vacation or personal time. if the leave is unpaid time, either becasue the employee ran out of time or there is no appliocable benefit time available, then we do not allow accrual.

Accrue Time when on FMLA

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