Employees who are eligible for the Federal Family Medical Leave are:

• Full-time and part-time faculty and staff
• Who worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the first day of leave
• Who completed 12 months of employment at RIT prior to the first day of leave

Student employees, part-time employees and adjunct faculty are not typically eligible.

FMLA provides up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during a 12 month period. If an employee qualifies for paid leave for the absence (such as a state paid family leave, short-term disability or workers compensation), the paid leave and unpaid leave will run concurrently.

The Federal Family Medical Leave (FMLA) provides job-protected leave under the following situations:

• Care of the employee's newborn child, within the first 12 months following birth.
• Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care, within the first 12 months following the placement.
• Care of the employee's spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition.
• Inability of the employee to perform one or more essential functions of his or her own job due to the employee's own serious health condition.
• Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a spouse, son, daughter or parent of the employee is on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the National Guard, Reserves or from military retirement status in support of a contingency operation and for members of the regular Armed Forces deployed to a foreign country. The limit for qualified exigency leave is to a maximum of 15 days.  Leave may be taken for:
  • Short notice deployment;
  • Military events and related activities;
  • Childcare and school activities;
  • Financial and legal arrangements;
  • Counseling;
  • Rest and recuperation;
  • Post-deployment activities;
  • Parental care for the service member’s parent who is not capable of caring for him or herself if the care is necessitated by the service member’s absence due to active duty; 
  • Additional miscellaneous activities.   
• Military Caregiver Leave provides employees up to 26 work weeks of leave during a single 12 month period to care for a spouse, son, daughter, parent or nearest blood relative (“next of kin”) who is a covered current service member or a covered veteran. Service Member Family Leave may be taken intermittently, but must be taken within 12 months of when it begins.  During the single 12 month period, an eligible employee is entitled to a total of 26 work weeks of leave under both FMLA and Service Member Family Leave.   
  • A “covered current service member” is a member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy in outpatient status, or on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness that occurred in the line of duty while on active duty or includes injuries that preexisted that service member’s active duty that were aggravated by service in the line of duty on active duty. 
  • A “covered veteran” is a member of the Armed Forces, including the National Guard or Reserves who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable and was discharged within the five year period before the eligible employee first takes FMLA military caregiver leave who is undergoing medical treatment for an injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces or one that preexisted active duty which was aggravated by service in the line of duty on active duty.  The injury or illness may manifest itself either before or after the member became a veteran and must fit one of the four categories of injuries/illnesses enumerated in the Final Rule.  Service Member Family Leave will only be available during a single 12 month period. 

Care of an employee's domestic partner with a serious health condition does not qualify for FMLA leave under the Federal law. However, RIT strives to treat domestic partners similarly to spouses whenever legally possible. Therefore, RIT will provide leave that is equivalent to FMLA leave for absences taken to care for an employee's domestic partner with a serious health condition. In order to use this benefit, the employee must have an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership on file with RIT Human Resources. 

Prudential, RIT’s insurance company for short-term and long-term disability benefits also provides FMLA and New York State Paid Family Leave (NYS PFL) absence reporting. Therefore, employees must call Prudential’s toll-free phone number (1-877-908-4778) to report a NYS PFL absence. If your absence is planned in advance, you should contact Prudential 30 days before your absence begins or within 2 days of learning of the need for leave if your absence is to begin within 30 days. 

If you are unsure whether your absence should be reported to Prudential, please call and the Prudential representative will review your situation and determine what the next steps are.

Information You Will be Asked to Provide When You Call Prudential

• Employer Name
• RIT Control Number – 50757
• Employee ID
• Reason for your Absence/Leave
• First day absent
• Work Schedule
• Date of expected return to work if known, or the actual date of return, if you have already returned to work
• If your absence is related to illness or injury, name, fax, and telephone number of the treating physician
• If caring for a qualified family member, their relation to you.

After employees have set up their claim over the phone, employees should then log in to Prudential's secure website and click on the “Register Here” button and follow the instructions to set up your user ID and password. This will allow you to provide claims updates through the secure portal instead of making a phone call to report updated. 

If eligible, an FMLA leave will run concurrently with an employee's short-term disability leave, state paid family leave or workers compensation (loss time) leave.