Family/Medical Leave

Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave

Established July 1, 2018, the Diocese of Raleigh Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave policy (link above) coordinates with the federally mandated Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to provide eligible employees with up to twelve (12) weeks of paid leave, without requiring the employee to expend either their personal sick or vacation leave.

This leave is intended to cover absences for an employee’s serious health condition, child birth, placement for foster care or adoption or to care for the employee’s spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition.

As this is an enhancement to the current, federally-mandated Family Medical Leave Act, the guidelines for qualification, application, and administration are essentially the same as those for FMLA.

Each leave case is unique, and diocesan HR should be consulted immediately when an employee announces or discovers that they will be out of work for an extended amount of time (4 work days or more in a row for the same qualifying reason). Diocesan HR will follow up with the location business manager and the employee to determine qualification and to guide them through the next steps of the leave.

To ensure that qualifying leave will be paid, employees must follow the policy and procedure (link above) as it is written.

The following information applies to Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave as well as FMLA:

Employees are eligible for a covered job-protected leave if they have worked for the diocese for at least 12 months and have worked 1,250 hours over the 12-month period immediately prior to their leave. Note: 1,250 hours is time worked and does not count sick, vacation, holiday, inclement weather, nor other types of non-productive time.

While it is beneficial to receive an employee’s notice of request for leave as early as possible, the 12-month look-back for hours worked may need to be performed closer to the beginning of leave to ensure that as many work hours as possible are counted. In some cases, diocesan HR may be unable to confirm eligibility until closer to the beginning of the employee’s leave.

Basic Leave Entitlement

Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of job-protected* leave for the following reasons:

  • For incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care or child birth;
  • To care for the employee’s child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care; or
  • To care for the employee’s spouse, son or daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition; or
  • For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee’s job.

A serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either an overnight stay in a medical care facility, or continuing treatment by a health care provider for a condition that either prevents the employee from performing the functions of the employee’s job or prevents the qualified family member from participating in school or other daily activities.

Subject to certain conditions, the continuing treatment requirement may be met by a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days combined with at least two visits to a health care provider or one visit and a regimen of continuing treatment, or incapacity due to pregnancy, or incapacity due to a chronic condition. Other conditions may meet the definition of continuing treatment.

Paid Employee Family Medical and FMLA Leave entitlements will be measured on a rolling 12-month basis.

To apply for Paid Employee Family Medical and FMLA Leave, the following steps must be taken:

  • The employee must notify his or her supervisor of an intent to take leave 30 days or more prior to the start of leave**
  • Download and complete the Family/Medical Leave Request Form (link above).
  • Email the form to fmla.submissions@raldioc.org or fax to 984-275-1742. This email and fax are secure.
  • All subsequent forms required to determine Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave and/or FMLA will be sent directly to the employee (via email or USPS mail).

*Most cases of FMLA will be paid under the Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave policy. However, if for some reason the leave does not qualify for paid leave but does qualify under FMLA, employees are required to use any available sick and vacation days. These paid days will run concurrently with an employee’s FMLA time.

** If an employee is unable to inform his or her supervisor prior to going out on Paid Employee and Family Medical Leave, the supervisor must inform Human Resources as soon as possible.