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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
Some states may have statutes that affect an employee’s right to leave for various reasons such as pregnancy, workers’ compensation, and disability. Coverage and eligibility provisions must generally be satisfied as a condition for leave under the federal statute, state statute, or both. Vermont law allows for parental/family leave, which includes short-term family leave; and earned sick time.
Employers with employees in Vermont should be aware of parental and family leave, short-term family leave, earned sick leave, and crime victim leave.
Parental and family leave
Employer coverage
Vermont allows for both parental and family leave. Under the Vermont Parental and Family Leave Law, “family leave” applies to private and public employers who have 15 or more employees and “parental leave” applies to employers who have only 10 or more employees. In contrast, the FMLA applies to all public employers and to private employers with 50 or more employees.
Employee eligibility
To be eligible for parental or family leave, an employee must have worked an average of 30 hours per week for at least 12 months. In contrast, the FMLA requires that employees work at least 12 months and 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave. There is also a worksite provision under the federal law.
Leave entitlement
Like the FMLA, an eligible employee is entitled to 12 weeks of parental or family leave within any 12-month period.
Employees may use up to six weeks of accrued paid leave during parental and family leave. Employers, however, may not require this.
Reasons for leave
Under the Vermont Parental and Family Leave Law, an employee may take parental leave:
- During the employee’s own pregnancy but not that of the employee’s spouse;
- To care for the employee’s newborn child up to 12 months of age; or
- To care for the newly adopted child under the age of 16 within the first year after placement.
Unlike the FMLA, placement of children for foster care is not covered by Vermont law.
An employee may take family leave:
- If they are seriously ill; and
- Because of a serious illness of a child, stepchild, foster child, ward who lives with them, parent, parent-in-law, or spouse.
Maintenance of health benefits
Similar to the FMLA, Vermont requires that employers continue employment benefits; however, an employee may be required to contribute to the cost at the existing rate of worker contributions. Unlike the FMLA, this includes all employment benefits, not just group health plans.
Job restoration
The FMLA states that an employee returning from leave is entitled to his or her former job or an equivalent job. The Vermont Parental and Family Leave Law also requires that an employee be returned to the same or comparable job that has the same benefits, pay, working conditions, and seniority. The employer may choose not to give an employee their job back only if:
- The employer would have terminated the employee’s job for reasons unrelated to the leave.
- The employee held a key position in the company in which he or she performed unique services and the hiring of a replacement is the only alternative available to the employer to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to the employer’s operation. In order to use this provision, the employer must provide notice to the employee before hiring a replacement worker.
Notice
Vermont requires that employees give reasonable written notice to their employer in advance of family or parental leave. The notice must include the date the leave is expected to start and the estimated duration of the leave. In the case of the adoption or birth of a child, an employer cannot require that notice be given more than six weeks in advance.
Short-term family leave
Employees eligible under the Parental and Family Leave law are also entitled to “short-term family leave.” Short-term family leave is leave an employee may take for routine recurrent family or medical issues of less than a full day. Specifically, an employee is allowed up to four hours of leave in any 30-day period, but may not take more than 24 hours in any 12-month period. An employer may require that the employee take at least two hours of leave at any one time.
An employee may take short-term family leave to:
- Participate in preschool or school activities directly related to a family member’s academic activities such as a parent-teacher conference;
- Go to the doctor or dentist for a routine visit;
- Accompany a family member to routine medical or dental appointments;
- Respond to a medical emergency involving a family member; and
- Accompany a family member to appointments for professional services related to their care and well-being, such as interviewing for admission to a nursing home.
If an employee wants to take short-term family leave, he or she must give notice as early as possible. The notice should be given at least seven days before starting leave. Less than seven days of notice may be given only in an emergency.
Earned sick time
Employer coverage
All employers are subject to the law.
Employee eligibility
Full-time employees of covered employers who work an average of at least 18 hours per week are eligible to accrue and use earned sick time. Employers may require a waiting period of up to one year for newly hired employees or for current employees who are employed on the law’s effective date. During this period employees accrue, but are not allowed to use the earned sick time. Ineligible employees include certain state or federal employees, per diem or intermittent employees, employees 18 or younger, and certain sole proprietors, partner owners, executive officers, or managers.
Leave entitlement
Employees accrue at least one hour of earned sick time for every 52 hours worked; employees are entitled to at least 40 hours (five days) of earned sick leave per year. Employees may carry over unused sick leave, but the employer may limit the use of the leave to 40 hours per 12-month period.
Reasons for leave
- Due to the employee’s own injury/illness.
- To obtain diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic care.
- To care for a sick or injured parent, grandparent, spouse, child, sibling, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, or to obtain diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health treatment for such a family member, or accompany such a family member to an appointment related to the family member’s long-term care.
- To arrange for social or legal services, or obtaining medical care or counseling due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
- To care for a family member because the school or business where that family member is normally located during the employee’s workday is closed for public health or safety reasons.
Maintenance of health benefits
Group insurance benefits must continue during an employee’s use of earned sick time at the same level and condition that coverage would be provided as for normal work hours. Employees may be required to contribute to the cost of the benefits during the use of sick leave at the existing rate of employee contributions.
Job restoration
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights; therefore, they may not be terminated for taking the leave.
Notice
Employers may require employees to notify them as soon as practicable of the intent to take earned sick time, and the expected duration of the absence. Employers must post a notice of the provisions of this law conspicuously to employees, and notify new hires of the provisions.
Crime victim leave
Covered employers
All employers doing business in or operating within VT.
Eligible employees
Employees who have been continuously employed for at least six months for an average of at least 20 hours per week.
Leave entitlement
Eligible employees may take unpaid leave for certain crime-related reasons, even if the victim (the employee or a family member) is an alleged victim. Violent crimes include, but are not limited to stalking, domestic assault, sexual assault, murder, manslaughter, arson, and kidnapping.
The law does not dictate a particular duration of the leave. Employees are not entitled to this leave if the employer provides goods or services to the general public and the employee's absence would require the employer to suspend all business operations at a location that is open to the general public.
Family members include an employee’s child, foster child, or stepchild; ward who lives with the alleged victim; spouse, domestic partner, or civil union partner; sibling; grandparent; grandchild; parent or a parent of the alleged victim’s spouse, domestic partner, or civil union partner; legal guardian; or an individual for whom the alleged victim stands in loco parentis or who stood in loco parentis for the alleged victim when the alleged victim was a child.
Employees may choose to use accrued sick leave, vacation leave, or any other accrued paid leave during the otherwise unpaid leave.
Reasons for leave
Employees may take attending a deposition or court proceeding related to:
- A criminal proceeding, when the employee is an alleged victim and the employee has a right or obligation to appear at the proceeding;
- A relief from abuse hearing when the employee seeks the order as plaintiff;
- A hearing concerning an order against stalking or sexual assault when the employee seeks the order as plaintiff; or
- A relief from abuse, neglect, or exploitation hearing when the employee is the plaintiff.
Maintenance of health benefits
Employers must continue employment benefits for the duration of the leave at the level and under the conditions coverage would be provided if the employee continued in employment continuously for the duration of the leave. Employers may require that the employee contribute to the cost of benefits during the leave at the existing rate of employee contribution.
Job restoration
At the end of leave, employees must be offered the same or comparable job at the same level of compensation, employment benefits, seniority, or any other term or condition of the employment existing on the day leave began, with some exceptions:
- The employee had been given notice or had given notice that the employment would terminate.
- If the employer can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that during the period of leave the employee's job would have been terminated or the employee would have been laid off for reasons unrelated to the leave or the condition for which the leave was granted.
Notice
Employers must post and maintain in a conspicuous place in and about each of its places of business printed notices of the law’s provisions on forms provided by the Commissioner of Labor.
Voluntary Family and Medical Leave Insurance (VT-FMLI)
Vermont employers will have the option of providing employees leave through a new voluntary paid family and medical leave insurance.
Effective 7/1/23, the insurance will be available for State of Vermont employees.
Effective 7/1/24, the program will be available to other public and private employers with two or more employees.
Effective 7/1/25, individuals who do not have access through their employer’s program, self-employed individuals, and employers with one employee can purchase coverage from the VT FMLI individual purchasing pool.
The VT FMLA would provide enrolled employees 60 percent wage replacement for at least a combined six weeks of paid leave in a 12-month period for the following qualifying reasons:
- The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
- The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
- Caring for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
- A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job; or
- Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty,” or to care for a covered service-member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service-member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
For medical leave, there will be a seven-calendar day waiting period with payments beginning on the 8th day. For family leave, claims will be paid for the first fully scheduled workday of leave.
State contacts
Office of the Attorney General
http://ago.vermont.gov/
Vermont Human Rights Commission
http://hrc.vermont.gov/
State statutes/regulations
Vermont Statutes Title 21, Chapter 5, Subchapter 4A, Sections 470 through 474, Parental and Family Leave
http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/chapter/21/005
Short-term family leave provisions are found at §472a
Vermont Statutes, Title 21, Chapter 5, Subchapter 4A, §§ 481 through 486, Earned Sick Time
http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/vtstatutesconstctrules/
Vermont Statutes Title 21, Section 472c Leave, crime victims
https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/21/005/00472c
Federal
ContactsUS Dept. of Labor, Wage & Hour Division
Regulations 29 CFR Part 825, “The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993”