Employee Handbook

Shepherd Electric Supply complies with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires employers to grant unpaid leaves of absence to qualified workers for certain medical and family-related reasons. The company also abides by any state and local leave laws. The more generous of the laws will apply to the employee if the employee is eligible under both federal and state laws.

Please note there are many requirements, qualifications, and exceptions under these laws, and each employee’s situation is different. Contact Human Resources to discuss options for leave.

The FMLA requires private employers with 50 or more employees and all public agencies, including state, local, and federal employers, and local education agencies (schools), to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in any 12-month period for certain family and medical reasons. The 12-month period is a rolling period measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave, except for leaves to care for a covered service member with a serious illness or injury. For those leaves, the leave entitlement is 26 weeks in a single 12-month period, measured forward from the date an employee first takes that type of leave.

Basic Leave Entitlement. The FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the following reasons: (1) for incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care, or child birth; (2) to care for the employee’s child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care; (3) to care for the employee’s spouse, son or daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition; or (4) for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work.

Military Family Leave Entitlements. Eligible employees with a spouse, son, daughter, or parent on active duty or called to active-duty status in the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation may use their 12-week leave entitlement to address certain qualifying exigencies. Qualifying exigencies may include addressing issues that arise from (1) short notice of deployment (limited to up to seven days of leave); (2) attending certain military events and related activity; (3) arranging childcare and school activities; (4) addressing certain financial and legal arrangements; (5) attending certain counseling sessions; (6) spending time with covered military family members on short-term temporary rest and recuperation leave (limited to up to five days of leave); (7) attending post-deployment reintegration briefings; (8) arranging care for or providing care to a parent who is incapable of self-care; and (9) any additional activities agreed upon by the employer and employee that arise out of the military member’s active duty or call to active duty.

The FMLA also includes a special leave entitlement that permits eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a covered servicemember during a single 12-month period. A covered servicemember is a current member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who has a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty that may render the servicemember medically unfit to perform his or her duties and for which the servicemember is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy; or is in outpatient status; or is on the temporary disability retired list.

Benefits and Protections During FMLA Leave. During FMLA leave, the Company will maintain the employee’s health coverage under any “group health plan” on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work, at the employees cost. Upon return from FMLA leave, most employees will be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms. However, an employee on FMLA leave does not have any greater right to reinstatement or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been continuously employed during the FMLA leave period.            

Use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that accrued prior to the start of an employee’s leave.

Employee Eligibility. The FMLA defines eligible employees as employees who: (1) have worked for the Company for at least 12 months; (2) have worked for the Company for at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months; and (3) work at or report to a worksite which has 50 or more employees or is within 75 miles of Company worksites that taken together have a total of 50 or more employees.

Definition of Serious Health Condition. A serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either an overnight stay in a medical care facility or continuing treatment by a health care provider for a condition that either prevents the employee from performing the functions of the employee’s job or prevents the qualified family member from participating in school, work, or other daily activities.

Subject to certain conditions, the continuing treatment requirement may be met by a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days combined with at least two visits to a health care provider or one visit and a regimen of continuing treatment, or incapacity due to pregnancy, or incapacity due to a chronic condition. Other conditions may meet the definition of continuing treatment.

Use of Leave. An employee does not need to use this leave entitlement in one block. Leave can be taken intermittently or on a reduced work schedule when medically necessary. Employees must make reasonable efforts to schedule leave for planned medical treatment so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations. Leave due to qualifying exigencies also may be taken on an intermittent or reduced work schedule basis.

Substitution of Paid Leave for Unpaid Leave. Shepherd Electric Supply requires employees to use any accrued paid vacation and personal/sick days during an unpaid period of FMLA leave taken because of the employee’s own serious health condition or the serious health condition of a family member or to care for a seriously ill or injured family member in the military. In addition, the employee must use any accrued paid vacation and personal/sick days during FMLA leave taken to care for a newborn or newly placed child or for a qualifying exigency arising out of a family member’s active duty or call to active-duty status in support of a contingency operation. To use paid leave for FMLA leave, employees must comply with the Company’s normal paid leave procedures found in its Vacation and Personal/Sick Days policies.

Employee Responsibilities. Employees must provide 30 days advance notice of the need to take FMLA leave when the need is foreseeable. When 30 days’ notice is not possible, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable and generally must comply with the Company’s normal call-in procedures. The Company may delay leave to employees who do not provide proper advance notice of the foreseeable need for leave, absent unusual circumstances preventing the notice.

Employees must provide sufficient information for the Company to determine if the leave may qualify for FMLA protection and the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. Sufficient information may include that the employee is unable to perform job functions, the family member is unable to perform daily activities, the need for hospitalization or continuing treatment by a health care provider, or circumstances supporting the need for military family leave. Employees also must inform the Company if the requested leave is for a reason for which FMLA leave was previously taken or certified. Employees are also required to provide a certification and periodic recertification supporting the need for leave. The Company may also require a second opinion, when the leave is a result of the employee’s own serious health condition, a fitness for duty report to return to work at the Company’s expense. The Company also may delay or deny approval of leave for lack of proper medical certification.

Company Responsibilities. The Company will inform employees requesting leave whether they are eligible under the FMLA. If they are, the notice will specify any additional information required as well as the employees’ rights and responsibilities. If employees are not eligible, the Company will provide a reason for the ineligibility.

The Company will inform employees if leave will be designated as FMLA-protected and the amount of leave counted against the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement. If the Company determines that the leave is not FMLA-protected, the Company will notify the employee.