Law Offices of Elizabeth Van Moppes - Workplace Counselor LLC
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![]() "The entire legal profession - lawyers, judges, law teachers - has become so mesmerized with the stimulation of the courtroom contest that we tend to forget that we ought to be healers of conflict." -Chief Justice Warren E. Burger |
Legal Update Washington State Family Leave Act In Line With The Feds By Beth Van Moppes, July 2006 Effective June 7, 2006, the legislature amended our state Family Care Act so that it is more closely aligned with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). On the employer-side, these changes reduce the minimum employee threshold from 100 to 50 employees. From the employee's perspective, a qualifying employee now need only work 1,250 hours in the past 12 months as compared to the previously required 1,820. If these threshold criteria are met, an employee is entitled to 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for (a) a newborn or newly adopted or foster child, (b) to recover from the employee's own serious health condition, or (c) to care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition. Additionally, the legislature clarified what we have long suspected, that under the Washington state statute, women are entitled to their 12 weeks unpaid FMLA leave in addition to any period of disability due to pregnancy or childbirth. An important little distinction to note is that, while neither Washington State nor federal law requires that employers pay employees who are out on such leave, the Washington State Family Care Act does allow workers who have available paid sick leave, or other accrued paid time off, to use that paid leave to care for a sick child with even a routine illness, a spouse, a parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent with a serious or emergency health condition, or an adult child with a disability. Additionally, and always, employers must remember that the Washington Law Against Discrimination mandates reasonable accommodation of all employees with disabilities. As a result, obligations under the WLAD should always be carefully considered when assessing any disability-related leave. Action Steps: Washington employers, including employers based in other
states but with facilities in Washington, must review and revise their
policies and practices regarding medical leave.
Employers should also consider providing additional training in this
area, to familiarize managers with the coverage of the new law.
By
Beth Van Moppes, April 2006 |
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