Exempting from the state family and medical leave law an employer that is covered under the federal family and medical leave law. (FE)

Under the current federal family and medical leave law, an employer that employs at least 50 individuals for each working day for 20 or more weeks in the current or preceding year and the state or a political subdivision of the state, regardless of the number of employees employed (employer), must permit an employee who has been employed by the employer for at least 12 months and who has worked at least 1,250 hours for that employer during the preceding 12 months (eligible employee) to take 12 weeks of family or medical leave in a 12-month period for the birth or adoptive or foster care placement of a child; to care for a spouse, child, or parent, but not a domestic partner or parent-in-law, who has a serious health condition; or when the employee has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of his or her position. Federal law, however, excludes from the definition of “eligible employee" an employee who works at a worksite with fewer than 50 employees if the employer employs fewer than 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has held, in Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland , 566 U.S. 30 (2012), that, absent a waiver of sovereign immunity, a state may not be sued for damages for a violation of the medical leave provisions of the federal family and medical leave law.

The bill provides that the state family and medical leave law does not apply to any of the following:

1. An employer that is required to provide leave under the federal family and medical leave law.

2. An employer that opts to provide leave under the federal family and medical leave law to an employee who is not an eligible employee, so long as the employer provides leave to such an employee in the same manner as the employer provides leave to an eligible employee.

The bill, however, does not prohibit any of the following:

1. An employee from taking leave under the state family and medical leave law to care for a spouse, child, parent, domestic partner, or parent-in-law who has a serious health condition.

2. An employee of the state who has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his or her employment duties from taking medical leave under the state family and medical leave law.