Family and Medical Leave Act

• Employee must have been employed by a State of South Carolina agency for at least 12 months.
  • These 12 months must not be consecutive, but your break in service cannot have been more than a seven-year period.
• You must have worked for the State of South Carolina agency for at least 1250 hours in the last 12 months before you take leave.
  • This minimum 1250-hour calculation includes actual hours worked, including overtime hours.
  • This minimum 1250-hour calculation excludes annual, sick, personal, holiday, or compensatory time.

Employees must submit a request for FMLA leave through Workday for review and approval.

If an employee is submitting an FMLA request due to a serious health condition, they must also submit a completed Medical Certification Form from their health care provider.

Guide: Requesting a Leave of Absence in Workday

You will receive two communications from the Office of Human Resources throughout the request process. These communications will be mailed to your home address listed in the human resources information system.

• Within five business days of receiving your request form, the Office of Human Resources will notify you whether you are eligible for FMLA leave and if additional documentation is needed to determine if your leave qualifies as FMLA leave. Documentation must be provided in a timely manner.
• Within five business days of receiving all requested documentation, the Office of Human Resources will notify you if your leave has been approved as FMLA leave and the final decision regarding your request.

An eligible employee can take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave in a calendar year for a variety of reasons, including:

Serious Health Condition

• You are unable to work because of your own serious health condition.
• You need to care for your spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition.

Military Family Leave

• Your leave is for specified reasons related to certain military deployments.
• You need to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness.

Expanding Your Family

• You are unable to work because of the birth of a child and to bond with the newborn child.
• You are unable to work because of the placement of a child for adoption or foster care and to bond with that child.

Approved FMLA leave offers eligible employees the following:

• 12 weeks of leave in a calendar year period.
• Uninterrupted health care insurance. The University will continue to pay the employer portion of your health insurance premiums, and you will continue to pay your portion of the insurance premiums.
• Job protection. As long as you are able to return to work before you exhaust your FMLA leave, you will be returned to the same job (or one nearly identical to it).

An employee can take up to 12 weeks of FMLA in a calendar year.

• FMLA leave may be taken as a single block of time, in multiple, smaller blocks of time, or on a part-time basis if the need to do so has been medically documented.
• By itself, FMLA leave is unpaid leave. However, if you are eligible for paid leave and have sick leave, annual leave or other paid leave available, you will be required to use your available balances.