Is an employee who is out on workers’ compensation also covered by family and medical leave laws?

If an employee has worked for your business for more than a year and has worked 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months, then they should be eligible for either or both the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or California Family Rights Act (CFRA) leaves depending on the size of your business.

The FMLA applies to businesses with 50 or more employees, and the CFRA was expanded to cover businesses with five or more employees.

Under these two laws, if an employee has a serious health condition, the employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks of leave, with job protection, and the employer must continue to pay its share of the cost of any health benefits enrolled in by the employee under the employer’s group health plan.

A serious health condition is any condition that requires either an overnight stay in a health care facility or a continuing course of treatment by a health care provider.

If an employee is undergoing a continuing course of treatment by a health care provider, they likely have a serious health condition and are likely eligible for protections under the FMLA and/or CFRA. These two acts can run concurrently with protections provided by the workers’ compensation act in California.

In fact, it usually is beneficial for the employee if the employer designates the absences as FMLA/CFRA qualifying leave because those laws provide for the continuation of health insurance benefits, which is not something guaranteed by the workers’ compensation laws.

If an employee is injured at work, the employer’s insurance carrier must provide medical treatment for that specific injury, but the employer is not required to maintain health insurance benefits for prolonged absences unless the employee is eligible for FMLA/CFRA protection.

Consequently, if an employee’s work-related injury is going to require the employee to miss work for an extended period of time, and the employer and employee qualify for the protections required by the FMLA and/or CFRA, the employer should issue a written notice to the employee as soon as possible explaining that the leave is covered by either, or both, of these acts.

Read more about Benefits During Workers’ Compensation in the HR Library.