Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 31 - Labor › 51qq - The Family and Medical Leave Act › Section 31-51qq-18 - Is FMLA leave paid or unpaid?

Current through July 10, 2024
(a) Generally, FMLA
			 leave is unpaid. However, under the circumstances described in this section,
			 FMLA permits an eligible employee to choose to substitute accrued paid leave
			 provided by the employer for unpaid FMLA leave. If the employee does not choose
			 to substitute accrued paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave, the employer may
			 require the employee to substitute accrued paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave,
			 except that the employee may choose to retain up to two (2) weeks of accrued
			 paid leave. The term substitute means that the paid leave provided by the
			 employer and accrued pursuant to established policies of the employer will run
			 concurrently with the unpaid FMLA leave.
(b) For purposes of this subsection, "sick
			 leave" means an absence from work for which compensation is provided through an
			 employer's bona fide written policy providing compensation for loss of wages
			 occasioned by illness, but does not include absences from work for which
			 compensation is provided through an employer's plan, including, but not limited
			 to, a short or long-term disability plan, whether or not such plan is
			 self-insured. Where an employee has earned or accrued paid vacation, personal
			 or sick or medical leave with the employer, the employee may substitute that
			 paid leave for all or part of any unpaid FMLA leave needed to care for the
			 employee's own serious health condition, to care for a family member who has a
			 serious health condition, to care for a covered servicemember, as defined by
			 section 31-51qq-50(a)(1) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, or
			 for the employee to serve as an organ or bone marrow donor, except that the
			 employee may choose to retain up to two (2) weeks of such leave. Substitution
			 of paid sick or medical leave under this subsection may be elected only to the
			 extent the circumstances meet the employer's usual requirements for the use of
			 paid sick or medical leave. Except that, if the employer has a bone fide
			 written sick leave policy, it shall allow the employee to use up to two (2)
			 weeks of accumulated sick leave to care for a family member with a serious
			 health condition or for the birth or adoption of a son or daughter.
(c) Disability leave for the birth of a child
			 would be considered FMLA leave for a serious health condition and counted
			 toward the employee's leave entitlement under FMLA. Because the leave pursuant
			 to a temporary disability benefit plan is not unpaid, the provision for
			 substitution of paid leave is inapplicable. However, where the employee is
			 eligible for disability leave under the employer's temporary disability benefit
			 plan, the employer may designate the leave as FMLA leave and count the leave as
			 running concurrently for purposes of both the benefits plan and the FMLA leave
			 entitlement. If the requirements to qualify for payments pursuant to the
			 employer's temporary disability benefit plan are more stringent than those of
			 FMLA, the employee shall meet the more stringent requirements of the plan, or
			 may choose not to meet the requirements of the plan and instead receive no
			 payments from the plan and use unpaid FMLA leave or substitute available
			 accrued paid leave.
(d) A serious
			 health condition may result from injury to the employee "on or off" the job.
			 Either the employer or the employee may choose to have the employee's FMLA
			 leave entitlement run concurrently with a workers' compensation absence when
			 the injury is one that meets the criteria for a serious health condition.
			 However, if the health care provider treating the employee for the workers'
			 compensation injury certifies the employee is able to return to a "light duty
			 job" but is unable to return to the same or equivalent job, the employee may
			 decline the employer's offer of a "light duty job". As a result, the employee
			 may lose workers' compensation payments, but is entitled to remain on unpaid
			 FMLA leave until the employee's FMLA leave entitlement is exhausted.
(e) If neither the employee nor the employer
			 elects to substitute paid leave earned or accrued with the employer for unpaid
			 FMLA leave under the above conditions and circumstances, the employee shall
			 remain entitled to all the paid leave which is earned or accrued under the
			 terms of the employer's plan.
(f)
			 If an employee uses paid leave under circumstances which do not qualify as FMLA
			 leave, the leave shall not count against the employee's FMLA leave entitlement
			 . For example, paid sick leave used for a medical condition which is not a
			 serious health condition does not count against the FMLA leave
			 entitlement.
(g) Where an
			 employee's earned or accrued paid leave is not substituted for the entire
			 period of unpaid leave to which the employee is entitled under the FMLA, the
			 employee may apply for and be provided with compensation through the Paid
			 Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program, 31-49e to 31-49t, inclusive, of the
			 Connecticut General Statutes, for all or part of any unpaid FMLA leave,
			 provided the employee qualifies for payments under the program.