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Virginia Laws Regarding FMLA

The Family and Medical Leave Act, referred to as FMLA, is a federal law that provides certain eligible employees the opportunity to take a specified period of unpaid leave with continued health coverage in the event of certain family and/or medical issues. Employers must protect an employee's job while the employee is on FMLA leave. States, such as Virginia, are required to recognize the FMLA because it is federal law.

  1. Permitted Leave under FMLA

    • Under FMLA as of April 2011, an employee is permitted to take unpaid leave in the event the employee becomes incapacitated because of pregnancy, giving birth to a child or other prenatal medical care. Employees may also take leave once the child is born in order to take care of the child or to place the child for adoption or foster care. FMLA also allows an individual to take time off in order to care for another member of his family. If the employee's spouse, child (including adopted and stepchildren), or parent has a serious health condition or the employee has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work, the employee would be permitted to take medical leave. Other categories of permitted FMLA leave relate to military service. The first category allows an employee to take FMLA leave if he has a spouse, child or parent on active duty in the National Guard or Reserves or in the event of certain qualifying exigencies. Exigencies include arranging for childcare, addressing personal arrangements and attending post-deployment briefings. The second military leave category is that employees may take leave to care for a covered service member who suffered a serious injury or illness while on duty.

    Periods of Leave under FMLA

    • Generally, most categories of FMLA leave provides employees with up to 12 weeks of leave during a single 12-month period. The 12-week period, however, is extended to 24 weeks during a single 12-month period when the reason for taking the leave is that the employee is caring for an eligible service member who incurred a serious injury or illness during covered active duty. This service member must fall into one of the following categories in relation to the employee: spouse, child, parent or next of kin.

    FMLA-Eligible Employees

    • Employers with less than 50 employees are not required to offer FMLA leave; therefore, if you work for a small employer, check your employer's policies to determine whether you will be allowed to take FMLA leave. If your employer offers FMLA leave, you must have worked for the employer for at least one year or 1,250 hours, during the previous 12-month period.

    Virginia FMLA Employees

    • Virginia does not provide additional FMLA-type benefits. Accordingly, the rules for federal FMLA apply to Virginia FMLA leave. To the extent possible, Virginia permits an employee to use sick leave prior to using unpaid leave if the employee has the leave and requests it. An employee should submit her FMLA request at least 30 calendar days prior to the commencement of the leave, if possible. The employee is also required to provide medical certification to the employer.

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