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Public and private employers need to be aware of leave for domestic violence, which is quite different from the federal FMLA.
Unlike the FMLA, which covers nearly all employers, Missouri’s adoption and sick leaves apply only to state government employers.
Effective August 28, 2021, public and private employers with 20 or more employees must provide leave for domestic violence.
Employees are to be a victim of domestic or sexual violence or have a family or household member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence may take leave. No other eligibility criteria need to be met.
Employees working for an employer with at least 50 employees are entitled to a total of two workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period.
Employees working for an employer with between 20 and 49 employees are entitled to a total of one workweek of unpaid leave during any 12-month period.
Leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced work schedule.
Leave under this law may run concurrently with the federal FMLA if the employee otherwise meets the eligibility criteria and the reason qualifies for FMLA leave.
Employees may take unpaid leave from work to address such violence by:
Family members include a spouse, parent, son, daughter, other person related by blood or by present or prior marriage, other person who shares a relationship through a son or daughter, and persons jointly residing in the same household.
Employers must maintain coverage for employees and any family or household members under any group health plan for the duration of such leave at the level and under the conditions coverage would have been provided if the employees had continued in employment continuously for the duration of such leave.
Employees who takes leave are entitled, on return from such leave, to be restored to the position held by when the leave began or an equivalent position with equivalent employment benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.
Employees must provide at least 48 hours’ advance notice of the intention to take leave unless not practicable. When an unscheduled absence occurs, the employer may not take any action against the employee if the employee, upon request and within a reasonable period after the absence, provides certification.
Employers had to give each employee a notice summarizing requirements for leave due to domestic or sexual violence by October 27, 2021. Since October 27, 2021, such notice must be given to employees upon hire.
Employers may require employees to provide certification that the employee or the employee's family or household member is a victim of domestic or sexual violence and that the leave is for a qualifying reason. Employees must provide such certification within a reasonable period after the employer requests certification.
Employees may satisfy the certification requirement by providing a sworn statement of the employee and the following:
Employers must make reasonable safety accommodations, in a timely manner, to the known limitations resulting from circumstances relating to being a victim of domestic or sexual violence or a family or household member being a victim of domestic or sexual violence, of an employee who can perform the essential functions of the job the employee holds or desires.
Employers need not, however, provide an accommodation that would impose an undue hardship.
To be eligible for leave benefits, an employee must simply be employed by the state of Missouri, its departments, agencies, or political subdivisions. Unlike the FMLA, an employee does not need to work a specified number of months or hours to be eligible for leave.
Leave is only available to the extent of an eligible employee’s accrued sick leave, annual leave, or the same unpaid leave that’s granted to biological parents.
An eligible employee may take leave for:
Leave may only be requested by an employee who is primarily responsible for furnishing the care and nurture of the child.
There is no state provision which requires an employer to maintain coverage under any group health plan while the employee is on leave; however, the FMLA requires that covered employers continue to provide group health insurance.
Unlike the FMLA, Missouri does not provide job restoration rights to employees.
Unlike the FMLA, Missouri does not mandate any notice requirements.
State employees may also take paid sick leave for periods in which the employee is incapacitated by sickness; injury; pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery; medical, surgical, dental, or optical exams or treatment; or where exposure to contagious disease would jeopardize the health of others.
Full-time employees receive pay based on the pay period in which they are covered and the quantity of hours they work. If they are paid on a semi-monthly pay period, their pay is computed at the rate of five hours for each semi-month for 80 or more hours. If they are paid on a semi-monthly period, sick leave will be credited at the rate of 1/2 the full-time accrual rate for semi-months in which the employee works (was on paid status) from 40 hours and prorated for all hours in which they work from 40 to 80 hours.
Upon return from sick leave, employees must provide a statement indicating that the absence was due to illness, disease, disability, or other qualifying reason.
Volunteer firefighters and members of medical assistance teams are protected from discharge if they are absent from employment (or arrive late) because they respond to an emergency. Employers do not have to pay for the absence, and may require a written statement from a volunteer supervisor regarding the emergency.
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
http://labor.mo.gov/
Missouri Revised Statutes 105.271.1, “Employee leave for adoptive parents and stepparents, when”
http://www.moga.mo.gov/mostatutes/stathtml/10500002711.html?&me=105.271
Missouri Revised Statutes 105.266.1, “Leave of absence granted, state employees, bone marrow or organ donation”
http://www.moga.mo.gov/mostatutes/stathtml/10500002661.html
Code of State Regulations, Rules of Office of Administration, Division 20 — Personnel Advisory Board and Division of Personnel, Chapter 5 — Working Hours, Holidays and Leaves of Absence; 1 CSR 20-5.020
https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/14558/1c20-5.pdf
Missouri Revised Statutes, Title XXI, Chapter 320, §320.336, emergency responder leave
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=320.336&bid=17107
ContactsUS Dept. of Labor, Wage & Hour Division
Regulations
29 CFR Part 825, “The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993”