Sodales for Enterprise Health, Safety, and Employee Relations’ Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) module provides a quick and easy way to manage your employee’s leave requests. The FMLA module lets you track time-off requests for employees who need to take unpaid, job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act is a federal law in both Canada and the United States that applies to all public agencies and companies with 50 or more employees. Under FMLA, eligible employees are entitled to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for certain medical and family reasons, such as caring for a newborn or adopted child, caring for a seriously ill family member, or dealing with a personal serious health condition.
For larger companies, keeping track of employee eligibility and managing the downstream business processes of time off can be complex and time-consuming. This is where Sodales’ FMLA module comes in to play. Our module helps automate and streamline the processes involved with FMLA, making it easier for employers to keep track of eligibility requirements, approve or deny leave requests, and manage employee benefits during the leave period. With our module, employers can save time and ensure compliance with FMLA regulations.
Determining Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for FMLA, the employee must have worked for their employer for at least 12 months. They must also have worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months, which averages out to be about 24 hours per week and must work at a location where the company employs 50 or more within a 75-mile radius.
During the leave, the employer is required to maintain the employee’s group health benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance. This means that the employee can continue to receive the same health benefits as if they were still working.
With our product module, FMLA eligibility is determined in four simple steps:
- Verifying the employee’s request and duration of leave
- Determining FMLA time previously taken
- Determining FMLA time left in the 12-month period
- Determining the total FMLA time available for this request
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, eligible employees can take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period for certain medical and family reasons as mentioned earlier in this post. However, in certain circumstances, such as caring for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness, eligible employees may take up to 26 work weeks of unpaid leave within a single 12-month period. This extended time is only available to eligible employees who are the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin. This provision allows family members to take time off work to care for their loved ones who have been injured or become ill while serving in the military.
With Sodales’ software, this module automatically calculates and deducts the appropriate FMLA allowance from an employee’s accrued annual leave balance. All it takes is simply submitting a request and entering the respective information needed regarding an employee’s leave including the reasoning for needing the time off.
Types and Reasons
Our FMLA module provides detailed information about both accrued leave balances and actual usage by employees. Sodales’ tool is device agnostic and allows you to access information anywhere. The FMLA types supported in Sodales’ module are categorized into continuous, intermittent, or reduced schedules. Within these types, authorized reasons include birth and care of a newborn child of an employee, employees of a child for adoption or foster care, caring for an immediate family member (i.e. spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition, taking medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition, military family leave and more.
New features provide added functionality and flexibility
The FMLA time-off request portal provides added functionality and flexibility. With Sodales’ module, you can keep track of employees’ FMLA-related absences so that your company can have accurate data for payroll and /or auditing purposes. Submissions and reports can be run on demand and are updated in real-time. For this reason, when an employee submits a request, they will instantly be able to see what days they can or cannot request leave. The module also allows companies to view, track and report on employees’ leave categories while providing more detailed information about each employee’s individual cases, including but not limited to the specific reason for the leave (e.g. pregnancy or childbirth), whether an employer-approved intermittent or reduced schedule was used during their absence, and more.
Takeaways
Sodales’ FMLA module is designed to provide a complete solution for managing your employees’ leaves. Our modules and reporting tools continue to evolve through collaboration and co-innovation with our customers to create a seamless end-to-end solution that meets the ever-changing needs of the industry. Let Sodales for Enterprise Health, Safety and Employee Relations help you better manage your company’s FMLA program, so you can focus on running a successful business and enhancing your employee experience. Request a demo today to integrate Sodales’ FMLA module into your organization’s workflows and get one step closer to creating a fair and respectful organizational culture.
