1. (a) Nothing in FMLA supersedes any provision of federal or local law that provides greater family or medical leave rights than those provided by FMLA. Employees are not required to designate whether the leave they are taking is State FMLA leave or federal FMLA leave, and an employer shall comply with the applicable provisions of both. An employer covered by one law and not the other has to comply only with the law under which it is covered. Similarly, an employee eligible under only one law shall receive benefits in accordance with that law. If the employee is eligible for leave under State FMLA leave and the leave qualifies for both State and federal FMLA, the leave used counts against the employee’s entitlement under both laws. Examples of the interaction between State and federal FMLA laws include:

   1. (1) An employee is entitled to have health benefits maintained while on federal FMLA leave for up to twelve (12) weeks each leave year. Although there is no requirement under State FMLA to maintain an employee’s health benefits during the State FMLA leave period, the obligation under federal FMLA to maintain an employee’s health benefits may arise where State FMLA leave and federal FMLA leave run concurrently. An employee is also entitled to be restored to the same or, if not available, equivalent job with the same or equivalent health benefits at the conclusion of the applicable FMLA leave period.
   2. (2) If an employee uses twelve (12) weeks of State FMLA leave to care for a grandparent with a serious health condition, the employee would still be entitled to his or her full federal FMLA leave entitlement during the leave year, as the leave used was provided for a purpose not covered by federal FMLA.

(Adopted effective March 9, 1999; Amended August 3, 2022)