The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to recover from illness or pregnancy or to care for sick family members. Employers covered by the FMLA are required to grant such leave and reinstate the employee to the same or an equivalent position upon timely return from FMLA leave. Because of the complexity of the statute and its corresponding regulations, employers have had great difficulty figuring out when an employee is entitled to leave and the conditions that may be placed upon such leave.
Tennessee has its own maternity leave act that recently was amended to extend its coverage. In general, the law requires employers with 100 or more employees at a job-site or location to grant up to four months of unpaid, job-protected leave and provides that both fathers and mothers who have been employed by the same employer for employer for at least 12 consecutive months as a full-time employee may be absent for a period not to exceed four months for pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and nursing the infant, where applicable. This leave can run concurrently with an FMLA leave. As discussed elsewhere in this chapter, parental leave consists of four months in...
Please call us at (312) 960-9400 if this is an error or if you have any questions.