Family Leave Policies

State and federal laws govern the amount of disability time you are required to provide for your employees. However, specific policies for time away from work for maternity, paternity, or adoption are at the discretion of the employer.

According to the 1993 Family Leave Act, any industry employing 50 or more employees for each working day during 20 or more calendar work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year must provide up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave during a twelve month period to each eligible employee for any of the following reasons:

• Birth and or child care of the newborn child of the employee
• Placement through foster care or adoption of a child with the employee
• To care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition
• If the employee is unable to work because of a serious medical condition

Eligible employees are defined as those who have worked for the company for 12 months; have worked for a minimum of 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave; and are employed by a business where 50 or more employees are employed within 75 miles of the worksite.