Section 202 of the Congressional Accountability
Act (CAA) applies certain rights and protections of the Family and
Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to covered employees. These rights
and protections entitle eligible employees to take up to twelve
weeks of leave in a twelve month period for certain family and medical
reasons while still receiving health
insurance benefits. Employers are not required to pay employees
on FMLA leave.
To qualify as an eligible
employee entitled to FMLA benefits, a covered employee must
have been employed in any employing office for a total of twelve
months, and for at least 1,250 hours of employment during the previous
twelve months. The twelve months of employment need not be consecutive
or for a single employing office. An eligible employee is entitled
to a total of twelve
work weeks of family and medical leave during a twelve-month
period. Under some circumstances, employees may take family and
medical leave in separate
blocks of time or on a reduced leave schedule. Certain notifications
may be required of both employees and employers with regard to taking
leave under these provisions.
Eligible employees may take family and medical leave for a number
of defined reasons,
among them child birth, a “serious
health condition,” or to care for a family member with
a serious health condition.
At the conclusion of family and medical leave,
an employee is entitled to be restored
to the same or an equivalent position as that held when leave commenced.
There are limited exceptions to this right for “key”
employees.
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