GBCDA - Family Care Act
FAMILY CARE LEAVE
This policy governs employee leave under 26 M.R.S.A. § 636, “An Act to Care for Families”, referred to in this policy as the “Family Care Act.” Leave under this policy is referred to as “Family Care Leave.”
The School Committee recognizes that under Maine’s “Family Care Act,” if an employer provides paid leave under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or employment policy, the employer must allow an employee to use the paid leave for the care of an immediate family member who is ill.
In law and for the purpose of this policy, the following definitions apply:
“Employer” means a public or private employer with 25 or more employees.
“Immediate family member” means an employee’s child, spouse or natural or adoptive parent.
“Paid leave” means time away from work by an employee for which the employee receives compensation. Paid leave is limited to sick time, vacation time, compensatory time and leave that is provided as an aggregate amount for use at the discretion of the employee for any of these purposes. Paid leave does not include paid short-term or long-term disability, catastrophic leave or similar types of benefits.
Employees may take up to twenty (20) days of paid leave as Family Care Leave per 12 month period, or the amount provided by an applicable collective bargaining agreement, whichever is greater.
The 12-month period used to determine employee eligibility for Family Care Leave shall be a rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses a Family Care Leave.
An employee is not entitled to use paid leave until that leave has been earned.
Any employee electing to take Family Care Leave must apply such leave against available paid sick leave and if sick leave is exhausted, against vacation leave until all paid leave available has been exhausted, except as otherwise provided in applicable collective bargaining agreements.
When leave is taken that qualifies both as Family Care Leave and as permitted under any employment contract, collective bargaining agreement or policy, the employee shall use Family Care Leave and the other type of leave concurrently, provided that the employee meets all of the eligibility requirements for each type of leave. Types of leave that shall run concurrently with Family Care Leave include, but are not necessarily limited to: sick leave, unpaid leave, and any other applicable types of leave.
Notice/verification of illness for Family Care Leave shall be the same as that required for the employee’s own illness. The employee must specify that leave is being taken pursuant to the Family Care Act.
Legal Reference: 26 M.R.S.A §636
Cross Reference: GBCD FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
Adopted: November 8, 2005
Reviewed: February 11, 2021