Family & Medical Leave Requests

In order to be eligible to take leave under the FMLA, an employee must have been employed by Berrien RESA for 12 months and have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the leave.

Paid and unpaid leave, including FMLA, are not included in the 1,250 hours worked requirement.

Eligible employees may take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for a purpose which qualifies for a leave under the FMLA policy. FMLA leave may be taken consecutively or intermittently. FMLA runs concurrently with paid leave time.

Berrien RESA calculates FMLA leave entitlement using the rolling 12-month method. This means that the amount of FMLA leave an employee is entitled to is based on how much leave they have taken in the previous 12 months, measured backwards from the start date of their leave.

Employees are required to provide at least 30-day notice of their intent to use the leave when the need is foreseeable such as childbirth, planned medical treatments, foster placement etc.

When the need for leave is unexpected, the employee must provide notice as soon as possible after the need for the leave is known, generally not later than the next business day after the employee realizes the need for leave.

Employees must comply with the Berrien RESA
usual and customary notice requirements for requesting time away from work.

Berrien RESA encourages the application of FMLA by employees in a timely manner in order for employees to receive the protections guaranteed under the Act.

However, due to the employer duties set forth in the FMLA, there may be circumstances where Berrien RESA will designate time off as FMLA leave without an employee request.

Berrien RESA will notify an employee of the applicability of the FMLA by sending an Employer Response to Employee Request for FMLA form to the employee.

Once the District receives your employee leave request along with supporting medical certification, the District will notify the employee, in writing, whether their leave has or has not been designated as FMLA.

FMLA leaves are unpaid, but there are several ways in which the District’s policies on salary continuation, sick days and vacation pay work in conjunction with certain kinds of FMLA leaves to provide you with some form of income during such a leave.

District policy requires employees to substitute any earned and/or accrued paid leave until all paid time off has been exhausted. Any additional time off qualifying under FMLA will be considered unpaid.

Employees only earn sick and vacation accruals when they are on paid leave. Employees represented by a union should refer to their respective collective bargaining agreements regarding paid time accruals.

The Berrien RESA HR Department will enter your paid and unpaid time off into Skyward/Qmlativ. You are still responsible for notifying your supervisor of absences via the normal protocol for reporting absences (e.g., Red Rover, call, text, email).

Insurance benefits continue while covered under FMLA leave. If your FMLA is unpaid, employees are still responsible for any premium contribution as they were paying prior to going out on leave. Extension of insurance benefits may apply if continuation of paid leave, otherwise district paid insurance benefits term at the exhaustion of FMLA leave. Employees would receive COBRA information from the District third party administrator, iSolved.

It can. FMLA leave and workers’ compensation leave can run together, provided the reason for the absence is due to a qualifying serious illness or injury.