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Leaves of Absence
The federal Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") and the California Family Rights Act ("CFRA")
protect an employee's job security if he or she must leave work to care for a close family member or for
their own serious health condition. Eligible employees may take of to 12 weeks of such leave per year
provided their company has 50 or more employees within 75 miles, they have been with the company for
a year, and have worked 1,250 hours in the current year. In addition, the California Pregnancy
Disability Leave Law allows covered pregnant employees to take up to four months of leave per
pregnancy in addition to the 12 weeks of family leave for a total of nearly seven months of leave. Such
employees maintain reinstatement rights to the same or an equivalent job during the period of the leave
unless they would have been laid off had they not been on leave, and they maintain health plan benefits
on the same basis as if the employer remained actively employed. In addition, many companies provide
even longer medical leave periods under their own policies, often for a year or more.
There are many other types of leaves that are protected under state and federal law. For example,
military service, jury duty, witnesses testimony, school activities, volunteer firefighters and police
officers, employees in alcohol or drug rehab programs, victims of domestic violence and crime and
employees involved in literacy education are also protected to specified degrees. In addition, vacation
time, once granted by a company, cannot be lost, although it may be paid off and it can be capped once a
specified number of days has accumulated.
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