Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Staff and faculty are eligible for the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act if they:

• Have worked for RIT for at least 12 months and
• Have at least 1,250 hours of service with RIT during the 12 months before the FMLA claim begins.

Student employees and adjunct faculty typically do not meet the eligibility requirements for FMLA. However, they may be eligible for state statutory benefits. Student workers and adjuncts should contact the Leave Administration team at fmla@rit.edu if a need for leave occurs.

FMLA provides up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job protected leave during a 12-month period. If an employee also qualifies for paid leave, such as Short-Term Disability, Workers’ Compensation, or state statutory leaves like New York State Paid Family Leave, both FMLA and the paid leave will run concurrently if eligibility requirements are met.

FMLA may be taken continuously or intermittently in the approved increments of time.

If FMLA does not run with a paid leave, employees may request available sick or vacation time to supplement approved FMLA. This is done through the employee’s normal time off request process.

FMLA provides 12 workweeks of 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.
• Qualifying exigencies leave that arise when the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is on active military duty or under an impending call to active military duty.

FMLA provides up to 26 workweeks of job-protected leave under the following situation:

• Military caregiver leave (MCL) for an employee’s spouse, child, parent, or next of kin who is a covered military servicemember. MCL provides up to 26 workweeks during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.

Domestic partners are not currently covered under FMLA. However, RIT provides equivalent leave when legally possible as well as the availability of New York State Paid Family Leave. To use this benefit, employees must have an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership on file with Human Resources.

Prudential, RIT’s insurance company for disability benefits, also provides Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) absence reporting. To begin, employees may call Prudential’s toll-free phone number 877-908-4778 or 844-778-4255/TTY or open the claim on Prudential’s website. Claims should be filed within 30 days of known absence or within two (2) days after an unplanned absence. Timely submission and reporting is critical.

Information to Provide Prudential:

• Employer name
• RIT Control Number: 50757
• Employee ID
• Reason for absence
• First day absent
• Work schedule
• Expected or known return to work date
• Contact information for treating physician, if related to a serious health condition
• Relation of family member, if applicable

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.