Family Medical Leave

Goodwind Development Corporation complies with the federal and Guam FMLA, which requires employers to grant unpaid leaves of absence to qualified workers for certain medical and family-related reasons.. The more generous of the laws will apply to the employee if the employee is eligible under both the federal and Guam FMLA.

Please note there are many requirements, qualifications, and exceptions under these laws, and each employee’s situation is different. Contact the HR department to discuss options for leave.

The Guam FMLA requires private employers with 20 or more employees and all public agencies, including state, local, and federal employers, and local education agencies (schools) to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in any 12-month period for certain family and medical reasons. The 12-month period is a rolling period measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave, except for leaves to care for a covered servicemember with a serious illness or injury. For those leaves, the leave entitlement is 26 weeks in a single 12-month period measured forward from the date an employee first takes that type of leave.

Basic leave entitlement. The FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the following reasons: (1) for incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care, or childbirth; (2) to care for the employee’s child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care; (3) to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition; (4) for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work; (5) to find/enroll the employee’s child in school or childcare, participate in school activities or address school or childcare emergencies (40 hours maximum per year); or (6) for bereavement upon the death of a family member (14 days maximum per
year).

Military family leave entitlements. Eligible employees with a spouse, child, or parent on active duty or called to active duty status in the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation may use their 12-week leave entitlement to address certain qualifying exigencies. Qualifying exigencies may include addressing issues that arise from (1) short notice of deployment (limited to up to 7 days of leave); (2) attending certain military events and related activity; (3) arranging child care and school activities; (4) addressing certain financial and legal arrangements; (5) attending certain counseling sessions; (6) spending time with covered military family members on short-term temporary rest and recuperation leave (limited to up to 5 days of leave); (7) attending post deployment reintegration briefings; (8) arranging care for or providing care to a parent who is incapable of self-care; and (9) any additional activities agreed upon by the employer and employee that arise out of the military member’s active duty or call to active duty.

The FMLA also includes a special leave entitlement that permits eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a covered servicemember during a single 12-month period. A covered servicemember is a current member of the armed forces, including a member of the National Guard or reserves, who has a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty that may render the servicemember medically unfit to perform the duties of the servicemember’s office, grade, rank, or rating and for which the servicemember is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy; is in outpatient status; or is on the temporary disability retired list.

Benefits and protections during FMLA leave. During FMLA leave, the company will maintain the employee’s health coverage under any “group health plan” on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work. Upon return from FMLA leave, most employees will be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms. However, an employee on FMLA leave does not have any greater right to reinstatement or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been continuously employed during the FMLA leave period.

Certain highly compensated key employees also may be denied reinstatement when necessary to prevent “substantial and grievous economic injury” to the company’s operations. A “key” employee is an eligible salaried employee who is among the highest-paid 10 percent of the company’s employees within 75 miles of the worksite. Employees will be notified of their status as key employees, when applicable, after they request FMLA leave.

Use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that accrued before the start of an employee’s leave.

Employee eligibility. The FMLA defines eligible employees as employees who (1) have worked for the company for at least 12 months; (2) have worked for the company for at least 1,000 hours in the previous 12 months; and (3) work for a company that has 20 or more employees.

Definition of “serious health condition.” A serious health condition is an illness, an injury, an impairment, or a physical or mental condition that involves either an overnight stay in a medical care facility or continuing treatment by a healthcare provider for a condition that either prevents the employee from performing the functions of the employee’s job or prevents the qualified family member from participating in school, work, or other daily activities.

Subject to certain conditions, the continuing treatment requirement may be met by a period of incapacity of more than 3 consecutive calendar days combined with at least 2 visits to a healthcare provider or 1 visit and a regimen of continuing treatment, incapacity due to
pregnancy, or incapacity due to a chronic condition. Other conditions may meet the definition of “continuing treatment.”

Use of leave. An employee does not need to use this leave entitlement in one block. Leave can be taken intermittently or on a reduced work schedule when medically necessary. Employees must make reasonable efforts to schedule leave for planned medical treatment so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations. Leave due to qualifying exigencies also may be taken on an intermittent or a reduced work schedule basis.

Substitution of paid leave for unpaid leave. Employees may choose or employers may require the use of accrued paid leave while taking FMLA leave. Accordingly, the company requires employees to use any accrued paid vacation, personal, and sick days during an unpaid FMLA leave taken because of the employees’ own serious health condition or the serious health condition of a family member or to care for a seriously ill or injured family member in the military. In addition, employees must use any accrued paid vacation or personal days (but not sick days) during FMLA leave taken to care for a newborn or newly placed child or for a qualifying exigency arising out of
a family member’s active duty or call to active duty status in support of a contingency operation. In order to use paid leave for FMLA leave, employees must comply with the company’s normal paid leave procedures found in its Vacation and Sick Leave policies.

Employee responsibilities. Employees must provide 30 days’ advance notice of the need to take FMLA leave when the need is foreseeable. When 30 days’ notice is not possible, employees must provide notice as soon as practicable and generally must comply with the company’s normal call-in procedures. The company may delay leave to employees who do not provide proper advance notice of the foreseeable need for leave, absent unusual circumstances preventing the notice.

Employees must provide sufficient information for the company to determine if the leave may qualify for FMLA protection and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. Sufficient information may include that the employee is unable to perform job functions, the family member is unable to perform daily activities, the need for hospitalization or continuing treatment by a healthcare provider, or circumstances supporting the need for military family leave.

Employees also must inform the company if the requested leave is for a reason for which FMLA leave was previously taken or certified. Employees also are required to provide a certification and periodic recertification supporting the need for leave. The company also may require a second and, if necessary, a third opinion (at the company’s expense) and, when the leave is a result of the employee’s own serious health condition, a fitness-for-duty report to return to work. The company also may delay or deny approval of leave for lack of proper medical certification.

Company responsibilities. The company will inform employees requesting leave whether they are eligible under the FMLA. If they are, the notice will specify any additional information required, as well as the employees’ rights and responsibilities. If employees are not eligible, the company will provide a reason for the ineligibility.

The company will inform employees if leave will be designated as FMLA-protected and the amount of leave counted against the employees’ FMLA leave entitlement. If the company determines that the leave is not FMLA-protected, the company will notify the employees.

Other provisions. Under an exception to the FLSA in the FMLA regulations, hourly amounts may be deducted for unpaid leave from the salary of executive, administrative, and professional employees; outside sales representatives; certain highly skilled computer professionals; and certain highly compensated employees who are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the FLSA, without affecting the employees’ exempt status. This special exception to the “salary basis” requirements for the FLSA’s exemptions extends only to eligible employees’ use of FMLA leave.

Employees may not perform work for self-employment or for any other employer during an approved leave of absence, except when the leave is for military or public service or when the company has approved the employment under its Outside Employment policy and the employees’ reason for FMLA leave does not preclude the outside employment.

Unlawful acts by employers. The FMLA makes it unlawful for any employer (1) to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right provided under the FMLA or (2) to discharge or discriminate against any person for opposing any practice made unlawful by the FMLA or for involvement in any proceeding under or relating to the FMLA.

Enforcement. An employee may file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor or may bring a private lawsuit against an employer. The FMLA does not affect any federal or state law prohibiting discrimination or supersede any state or local law or collective bargaining agreement that provides greater family or medical leave rights.