MAINTENANCE OF HEALTH BENEFITS

A covered employer is required to maintain group health insurance coverage for an employee on FMLA leave whenever such insurance was provided before the leave was taken and on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work. If applicable, arrangements will need to be made for employees to pay their share of health insurance premiums while on leave.

In some instances, the employer may recover premiums it paid to maintain health coverage for an employee who fails to return to work from FMLA leave.

JOB RESTORATION

Upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to the employee's original job, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.

In addition, an employee's use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to before using FMLA leave, nor be counted against the employee under a "no fault" attendance policy.

Under specified and limited circumstances where restoration to employment will cause substantial and grievous economic injury to its operations, an employer may refuse to reinstate certain highly-paid "key" employees after using FMLA leave during which health coverage was maintained. In order to do so, the employer must:

• notify the employee of his/her status as a "key" employee in response to the employee's notice of intent to take FMLA leave;
• notify the employee as soon as the employer decides it will deny job restoration, and explain the reasons for this decision;
• offer the employee a reasonable opportunity to return to work from FMLA leave after giving this notice; and
• make a final determination as to whether reinstatement will be denied at the end of the leave period if the employee then requests restoration.

A "key " employee is a salaried "eligible" employee who is among the highest paid ten percent of employees within 75 miles of the work site.