GSEM Employee Handbook 2022-2023

Job Protection Upon return from FMLA leave, most employees must be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms. So that an employee’s return can be properly scheduled, an employee on FMLA leave should notify the Council of their intent to return to work at least two weeks before the planned return date. A “key employee,” which is defined as a salaried, FMLA-eligible employee who is among the highest- paid 10% of employees within seventy-five miles of the employee’s worksite, may be denied reinstatement if necessary, to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to the operations of the Council. The Council will notify an employee as to whether they qualify as a “key employee” after the employee has requested a leave of absence. The Council is not required to continue FMLA benefits or reinstate employees who would have been laid off or otherwise had their employment terminated had they continued to work during the FMLA leave period. Furthermore, the Council will consider an employee’s failure to return to work at the end of an FMLA leave to be a voluntary termination of the employee’s employment with the Council. In such cases, the employee no longer has FMLA protections of job restoration. Employees who give unequivocal notice they do not intend to return to work lose their entitlement to FMLA leave and job protection. Fitness-for-Duty Certification As stated above, the Council’s standard practice is to require employees to provide fitness-for-duty certification prior to returning to work from a period of FMLA leave due to the employee’s own serious health condition. If pursuant to its standard practice, the Council chooses to require submission of a fitness-for-duty certification, the Council will inform the employee of that requirement in the employee’s Designation Notice (i.e., the form by which the Council will notify the employee whether requested leave has been approved for FMLA protection.) Under most circumstances, the Council will not seek fitness-for-duty certification from an employee returning from intermittent or reduced-schedule FMLA leave; however, the Council may seek fitness- for-duty certification for each such absence (up to once every thirty days) if reasonable safety concerns exist regarding the employee’s ability to perform their duties, based on the serious health condition for which the employee took such leave. If the Council chooses to require a fitness-for-duty certification under such circumstances, the Council will inform the employee at the time a Designation Notice is provided that for each subsequent instance of intermittent or reduced schedule leave, the employee will be required to submit a fitness-for-duty certification unless one has already been submitted within the past thirty days. If an employee fails to provide timely and complete fitness-for-duty certification at the Council’s request, such failure may result in a delay of the employee’s return to work and/or a loss of the employee’s reinstatement rights under the FMLA. Employees may obtain fitness-for-duty certification forms from Human Resources. Complete fitness-for-duty certification includes certification from a health care provider that an employee is able to return to work. This provision in no way limits the Council’s right to request a separate fitness-for-duty evaluation or additional documentation pursuant to the Disability Policy, to the extent such request is consistent with the Council’s business necessity and is permissible under state and federal law. The employee will be responsible for covering the cost of obtaining fitness-for-duty certifications under this policy.

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