I recently had a client inquiry regarding the practical details of Washington State family leave law and thought I'd use the opportunity to blog on this somewhat convoluted area of workplace law.
Effective June 7, 2006, the legislature amended our state law 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. A qualifying employee now need only work 1,250 hours in the past 12 months as compared to 1,820 previously. 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 (3) to care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition.
Additionally, the legislature clarified that 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 reuslt, obligations under the WLAD should always be carefully considered when assessing any disability-related leave.
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If you have a particular situation you would like to discuss, please e-mail me at evanmoppes@workplacecounselor.com and I would be happy to assist you.
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