Maryland FMLA And Leave Law Guidelines And Requirements

The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that applies to employer organizations with 50 or more employees for 20 or more workweeks in the current or previous calendar year.

The Family & Medical Leave Act does not take the place of other sources of leave, including Maryland's FMLA and other state leave laws. To the extent an organization subject to the FMLA is also subject to a state leave law, it must comply with both the FMLA and the state leave law.

The challenge in coordinating compliance with federal and state law is that the state leave laws may differ from FMLA law in employee eligibility criteria, as well as the length and type of protection.

Maryland's FMLA And Other Leave Laws

In addition to the federally-mandated FMLA rules, Maryland employers must comply with additional state leave laws, including the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act. According to, and excerpted from, https://www.dllr.state.md.us/paidleave/paidleavemodel.shtml, these include:

• Employers with 15 or more employees provide paid sick and safe leave for certain employees
• Employers who employ 14 or fewer employees provide unpaid sick and safe leave for certain employees

In determining whether an employer is required to provide paid or unpaid earned sick and safe leave under the law, the number of employees is determined by calculating the average monthly number of employees during the immediately preceding year without regard to whether the employee is full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal. Read more about Maryland leave law at the link above, or discuss your requirements with legal counsel.

Leave Usage

Employees are not permitted to use leave during the first 106 calendar days of their employment. An employee is allowed to use earned sick and safe leave under the following conditions:

• To care for or treat the employee's mental or physical illness, injury or condition
• To obtain preventative medical care for the employee or the employee's family member
• To care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury or condition
• For maternity or paternity leave
• The absence from work is necessary due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking committed against the employee or the employee's family member and the leave is being used: (1) to obtain medical or mental health attention; (2) to obtain services from a victim services organization; (3) for legal services or proceedings; or (4) because the employee has temporarily relocated as a result of the domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

A family member includes a spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or legal guardian. For a complete list of family members included under the law, please see §3-1301(G) of the Labor and Employment Article of the Maryland Annotated Code.

How To Determine Whether FMLA Guidelines Or State Guidelines Apply In Maryland

Here are some guidelines if your organization is subject to both FMLA and Maryland leave law:

• If an eligible employee wishes to take a leave that is covered under both the state leave law and the FMLA, then generally the leave can be run concurrently. In other words, it can be counted towards satisfying the requirements under both state and federal law simultaneously
• If an eligible employee wishes to take a leave covered under the FMLA, but not also covered under the state leave law, that leave can only count towards satisfaction of the FMLA requirements. The total amount of leave available under the state law would still be available to that employee
• If an eligible employee wishes to take a leave covered under the state leave law, but not also covered under the FMLA, that leave can only count towards satisfaction of the state leave law. The total amount of leave available under the FMLA (e.g., 12 weeks or 26 weeks) would still be available to the employee

Note: The above is excerpted from our FMLA Training & Certification Program. Click to read some additional FMLA compliance tips from this course:

• About-FMLA-Intermittent-Leave
• About-FMLA-Return-To-Work

Recommended Training For Maryland's FMLA Requirements

From seminars to webinars to online courses, HRTrainingCenter offers a variety of FMLA compliance training courses. Simply select one of our 'Recommended Courses' or use the search box to find your desired FMLA training course.

• Certificate Program In FMLA, ADA, Compliance
• FMLA Training & Certification Program
• How To Identify And Investigate FMLA Abuse
• Integrating FMLA, ADA, COBRA, And Workers' Compensation Training & Certification Program

To find other FMLA training courses, use the search box below.