Managing FMLA Plans

This chapter provides an overview of administering FMLA plans and discusses how to:

Enter FMLA leave requests.
Determine FMLA eligibility.
Schedule FMLA leave.
Track FMLA activity.

Understanding FMLA Plan Administration

The FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) protects benefits and job restoration for employees who take a leave from work to care for themselves or family members. This law went into effect August 5, 1993, and contains provisions regarding employer coverage, employee eligibility and entitlement, notice and certification, continuation of health benefits, and job restoration.

Before you can actively manage FMLA information for your workforce, you must first activate FMLA Administration and then define your organization’s FMLA plans. Use the Installation Table and the FMLA Plan Table to perform these steps. You also need to associate FMLA plans with benefit programs, using the Benefit Program Table.

After setting up your plans, use their parameters to determine employee eligibility and to calculate available FMLA leave.

See Also

Setting Up FMLA Plans

Building Base Benefit Programs

Entering FMLA Leave Requests

This section describes how to:

Request employee leaves.
Monitor leave requests.

Page Used to Enter FMLA Leave Requests

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Request	FMLA_LV_REQUEST1	Benefits, Track FMLA (Family Medical Lv), Request/Authorize/Track Leave, Request	Enter FMLA leave requests.

Requesting Employee Leaves

Access the Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Request page.

FMLA Request ID

Displays an initial default value of NEW.

When the request is saved, the system assigns a unique FMLA request ID. IDs are assigned sequentially from 001 to 999 within each employee record.

Note. If you are processing employees with multiple jobs, FMLA Administration does not use the employee record number. The system tracks FMLA leave requests by individual employees rather than by job.

Request

Request Date	Enter the date that the employee made the FMLA-protected leave request.
Begin Date	Enter the first day of the employee’s requested leave. The system uses the begin date for any record that requires an effective date. Because eligibility and entitlement can be affected when the begin date is edited, you cannot edit it after the request’s approval status changes to approved or denied, or after the request has been completed or canceled. To change the begin date after one of these events has taken place, change the approval status back to open, edit the begin date, recalculate eligibility and entitlement with the Leave Request Eligibility page, and manually adjust the leave schedule.
Return Date	Enter the date that the employee is scheduled to return from leave. The return date is not the day of FMLA protected leave, but rather the first day of work after the leave is completed. Select Expected/Open if the request is still pending or in process. Select Actual/Completed when the employee actually returns from leave.
Leave Reason	Select the appropriate leave reason. You can add more valid reasons through the PeopleTools Data Designer.
Leave Type	Indicate the regularity of the requested leave. Continuous leave is unbroken full-day leave. Irregular leave is broken, but on a regular schedule; for example, every Thursday and Friday for eight weeks. Irregular/Intermittent leave involves unspecified times during the planned leave period. Note. If you change this field after the leave is completed, the system displays a warning.
Time Requested	For reference only.

Approval

Approval Status

Specify whether the leave request is approved. When you select Approved or Denied, the system automatically populates the Approver and Apprvl Dt (approval date) fields with your employee ID and the current date.

Note. You can approve requests for employees determined to be ineligible for FMLA coverage.

Leave Canceled On

If the employee cancels the leave request before taking any leave, enter the date of this decision.

Do not use this field to indicate denial of the request or to record the employee’s early return from leave.

Monitoring Leave Requests

Use the Monitor Leave Requests Workflow process to locate new requests and notify the benefits administrator through email. This flowchart illustrates the Monitor Leave Requests Workflow process:

See Also

PeopleTools PeopleBook: Workflow

Determining FMLA Eligibility

The system uses data from a selected FMLA plan, the leave request, and job and payroll information to determine leave eligibility.

This section discusses how to determine eligibility.

Page Used to Determine FMLA Eligibility

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Eligibility	FMLA_LV_REQUEST2	Benefits, Track FMLA (Family Medical Lv), Request/Authorize/Track Leave, Eligibility	Determine FMLA leave eligibility and entitlement.

Determining Eligibility

Access the Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Eligibility page.

FMLA Plan ID

Attach the FMLA leave request to a specific FMLA leave plan. The system uses the parameters defined for the chosen plan to calculate eligibility and entitlement values. You cannot edit the FMLA plan ID after the request has been approved, denied, completed, or cancelled.

If you change the FMLA plan ID when the approval status is open and the Eligibility and Entitlement process has been run, the system resets all fields associated with eligibility and entitlement to their default values and displays a warning informing you that eligibility and entitlement must be reexamined.

Note. This default value for this field comes from the employee's benefit program, but you can override it here.

Eligibility and Entitlement

Click to start the eligibility and entitlement processes. These processes use employee job history, the FMLA plan parameters, payroll data, and data on the Request page to populate all of the other fields on the Eligibility page with the exception of the Std Hours Override (standard hours override) field.

Note. The Eligibility and Entitlement button is not available if the prerequisite data for the leave request is not entered in the Request page. It is also unavailable if the request’s status is completed, denied, or canceled.

FMLA Eligible Hours

Displays the results of the system's determination of the employee's FMLA eligible hours. The eligible hours are defined as the hours worked during the 52 weeks before the leave effective date. Depending on the rules that you've established for the associated FMLA plan, the system determines the eligible hours using either the employee's job history or Payroll data. The system selects the Eligible check box if the employee has worked enough hours to be eligible for FMLA protected leave.

Note. The Eligible check boxes are indicators of the system's determination based on the FMLA Plan rules, and are informational only. They have no effect on your ability to approve or deny the request.

FMLA Eligible Svc Weeks (FMLA eligible service weeks)

Displays the results of the system's determination of the employee's FMLA eligible service weeks. FMLA Administration determines service weeks using information from the employee's job history and the rules for the associated FMLA plan. The system selects the Eligible check box if the employee has worked enough service weeks to be eligible for FMLA protected leave.

As of Requested Begin Dt (as of requested begin date)

Displays the weeks and hours of FMLA protected leave that the employee is entitled to as of the leave’s begin date.

To determine whether the request can be approved, compare the values displayed here to the time requested in the employee’s FMLA protected leave request.

As of Expected Return Dt (as of expected return date)

Displays the weeks and standard hours of entitled protected leave remaining for the employee in the current FMLA year as of the leave’s expected return date. This value is used only for leaves requested under plans that use a Roll-Backward calendar year.

The Roll-Backward calendar is dynamic, such that a leave request using it might appear to demand denial based on an apparent lack of entitlement; however, the employee in question could gain the necessary entitlement during the course of the leave.

Original Hire Date,Officer Code, and Std Hours/Week (standard hours per week)

The Job and Employment Data group box displays basic job and employment information for the employee as of the leave effective date and the last determination of eligibility and entitlement.

The system enters the average number of hours that the employee works per workweek as of the leave effective date in the Std Hours/Week field.

Std Hours Override (standard hours override)

Sometimes system-computed standard hours values are not accurate. Employees often request leave well in advance of their leave’s begin date, and part-time employees’ weekly hours can be variable.

Enter a new value when appropriate.

Note. This field does not affect eligibility or entitlement–it is used only to more accurately convert between the display of weeks and hours.

See Also

Setting Up FMLA Plans

Scheduling FMLA Leave

This section describes how to:

Schedule FMLA leave manually.
Schedule repeating weekly leaves.
Designate paid leave days for repeating schedules.

Pages Used to Schedule FMLA Leave

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Request/Authorize/Track Leave - History	FMLA_LV_HISTORY	Benefits, Track FMLA (Family Medical Lv), Request/Authorize/Track Leave, History	Schedule and track FMLA leave.
Schedule Leave Days	FMLA_LV_SCHED_DLG	Click Schedule Leave on the History page.	Create repeating weekly FMLA schedules.
Mark Paid Leave	FMLA_LV_PAID_DLG	Click Mark Paid Leave on the History page.	After creating a repeating schedule, designate specific days as paid leave.

Scheduling FMLA Leave Manually

Access the Request/Authorize/Track Leave - History page.

Leave Summary

Tracks the weeks and hours of FMLA protected leave that are scheduled and that have already been taken.

Entitlement Summary

Tracks the total amount of FMLA protected leave that the employee is entitled to (for all leaves, including the current one).

Schedule Leave

Click to create template schedules for repeating leave.

Mark Paid Leave

Click to designate a portion of the FMLA leave as paid leave.

Week Begin Dt (week begin date) and Sunday through Saturday

Enter the start date of each scheduled week of FMLA protected leave and the hours of leave for each leave day.

To specify certain days of leave as paid leave, select the check box for those days. (Some employers require that employees use paid leave before they can use FMLA leave.)

Note. You can use these fields to manually schedule a leave request on a day-by-day basis. You can also use it to adjust a previously scheduled leave. If you use the automatic scheduling capabilities of the Schedule Leave Days and Mark Paid Leave pages (discussed later in this section), keep in mind that the system will overwrite previously scheduled days with the template schedules that you design through these pages.

Scheduling Repeating Weekly Leaves

Access the Schedule Leave Days page.

Weekly Template

Enter the number of hours for each day in the schedule.

Repeat Template From and Through

Enter the begin and end dates during which you want the schedule to repeat. The leave request’s scheduled begin and return dates are the defaults.

Repeat Template For

Select a time period for the schedule to repeat. If you select an option other than Every Week, you can plan the intervening weeks with separate rounds of scheduling.

For example, if you have an employee with four weeks of FMLA leave, you can schedule the first and third weeks with one Schedule Leave Days template that repeats for every other week and starts on the first day of the first week. You can then schedule the second and fourth weeks with another template.

Entitlement

Displays the weeks and hours of FMLA leave that the employee is entitled to.

Scheduled

Displays FMLA leave hours currently scheduled for the employee.

Unscheduled

Displays FMLA leave weeks and hours remaining for the employee. This value can be negative if more hours are scheduled than are available to the employee.

Designating Paid Leave Days for Repeating Schedules

Access the Mark Paid Leave page.

Summary of Paid Leave Accrued

Displays the various leave plan types and the hours accrued by the employee.

The accrual date is current as of, and based on, the date when the employee’s FMLA leave request was submitted, which means that the Hours Accrued values might be inaccurate by the begin date of the leave.

Mark first . . . scheduled days (. . . Hrs) as Paid Leave

Enter the number of days to be considered as part of the employee’s paid leave.

The system assumes that the paid leave days are substituted only for the beginning of the leave.

Only whole eight-hour days can be marked as paid leave days. The number of scheduled hours represented by those days can be compared with the leave accrual balances, which are always calculated as hours. When you enter a certain number of days in this field, the number of hours that they represent appear in the (Hrs) box.

When you return to the History page, days selected as paid leave days have their check boxes selected.

Tracking FMLA Activity

You can record significant events that affect FMLA leaves, such as employee inquiries, requests for extensions, and the sending and receiving of notices and medical documents. This information is for reference only; it does not affect processing.

Page Used to Track FMLA Activity

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Activity	FMLA_LV_ACTIVITY	Benefits, Track FMLA (Family Medical Lv), Request/Authorize/Track Leave, Activity	Log events that affect an FMLA leave.

Tracking Activity

Access the Request/Authorize/Track Leave - Activity page.

Activity Date and Activity Type

More than one activity type can occur on the same date, but only one type can be entered per dated row.

You can add or change activity types with the PeopleTools Data Designer.

Follow Up Required

Specify whether the activity requires follow-up action (as in the case of requests for medical certification, for example).

Note. This is informational. You can create queries against this field to report upcoming events.

FMLA Plan ID	Attach the FMLA leave request to a specific FMLA leave plan. The system uses the parameters defined for the chosen plan to calculate eligibility and entitlement values. You cannot edit the FMLA plan ID after the request has been approved, denied, completed, or cancelled. If you change the FMLA plan ID when the approval status is open and the Eligibility and Entitlement process has been run, the system resets all fields associated with eligibility and entitlement to their default values and displays a warning informing you that eligibility and entitlement must be reexamined. Note. This default value for this field comes from the employee's benefit program, but you can override it here.
Eligibility and Entitlement	Click to start the eligibility and entitlement processes. These processes use employee job history, the FMLA plan parameters, payroll data, and data on the Request page to populate all of the other fields on the Eligibility page with the exception of the Std Hours Override (standard hours override) field. Note. The Eligibility and Entitlement button is not available if the prerequisite data for the leave request is not entered in the Request page. It is also unavailable if the request’s status is completed, denied, or canceled.
FMLA Eligible Hours	Displays the results of the system's determination of the employee's FMLA eligible hours. The eligible hours are defined as the hours worked during the 52 weeks before the leave effective date. Depending on the rules that you've established for the associated FMLA plan, the system determines the eligible hours using either the employee's job history or Payroll data. The system selects the Eligible check box if the employee has worked enough hours to be eligible for FMLA protected leave. Note. The Eligible check boxes are indicators of the system's determination based on the FMLA Plan rules, and are informational only. They have no effect on your ability to approve or deny the request.
FMLA Eligible Svc Weeks (FMLA eligible service weeks)	Displays the results of the system's determination of the employee's FMLA eligible service weeks. FMLA Administration determines service weeks using information from the employee's job history and the rules for the associated FMLA plan. The system selects the Eligible check box if the employee has worked enough service weeks to be eligible for FMLA protected leave.
As of Requested Begin Dt (as of requested begin date)	Displays the weeks and hours of FMLA protected leave that the employee is entitled to as of the leave’s begin date. To determine whether the request can be approved, compare the values displayed here to the time requested in the employee’s FMLA protected leave request.
As of Expected Return Dt (as of expected return date)	Displays the weeks and standard hours of entitled protected leave remaining for the employee in the current FMLA year as of the leave’s expected return date. This value is used only for leaves requested under plans that use a Roll-Backward calendar year. The Roll-Backward calendar is dynamic, such that a leave request using it might appear to demand denial based on an apparent lack of entitlement; however, the employee in question could gain the necessary entitlement during the course of the leave.
Original Hire Date,Officer Code, and Std Hours/Week (standard hours per week)	The Job and Employment Data group box displays basic job and employment information for the employee as of the leave effective date and the last determination of eligibility and entitlement. The system enters the average number of hours that the employee works per workweek as of the leave effective date in the Std Hours/Week field.
Std Hours Override (standard hours override)	Sometimes system-computed standard hours values are not accurate. Employees often request leave well in advance of their leave’s begin date, and part-time employees’ weekly hours can be variable. Enter a new value when appropriate. Note. This field does not affect eligibility or entitlement–it is used only to more accurately convert between the display of weeks and hours.

Leave Summary	Tracks the weeks and hours of FMLA protected leave that are scheduled and that have already been taken.
Entitlement Summary	Tracks the total amount of FMLA protected leave that the employee is entitled to (for all leaves, including the current one).
Schedule Leave	Click to create template schedules for repeating leave.
Mark Paid Leave	Click to designate a portion of the FMLA leave as paid leave.
Week Begin Dt (week begin date) and Sunday through Saturday	Enter the start date of each scheduled week of FMLA protected leave and the hours of leave for each leave day. To specify certain days of leave as paid leave, select the check box for those days. (Some employers require that employees use paid leave before they can use FMLA leave.) Note. You can use these fields to manually schedule a leave request on a day-by-day basis. You can also use it to adjust a previously scheduled leave. If you use the automatic scheduling capabilities of the Schedule Leave Days and Mark Paid Leave pages (discussed later in this section), keep in mind that the system will overwrite previously scheduled days with the template schedules that you design through these pages.

Weekly Template	Enter the number of hours for each day in the schedule.
Repeat Template From and Through	Enter the begin and end dates during which you want the schedule to repeat. The leave request’s scheduled begin and return dates are the defaults.
Repeat Template For	Select a time period for the schedule to repeat. If you select an option other than Every Week, you can plan the intervening weeks with separate rounds of scheduling. For example, if you have an employee with four weeks of FMLA leave, you can schedule the first and third weeks with one Schedule Leave Days template that repeats for every other week and starts on the first day of the first week. You can then schedule the second and fourth weeks with another template.
Entitlement	Displays the weeks and hours of FMLA leave that the employee is entitled to.
Scheduled	Displays FMLA leave hours currently scheduled for the employee.
Unscheduled	Displays FMLA leave weeks and hours remaining for the employee. This value can be negative if more hours are scheduled than are available to the employee.