Can an employer offer FMLA coverage to some but not all employees?

[flgal417]

I was recently told that I do not qualify for FMLA coverage because we do not have more than 50 employees within a 75 mile radius.

I was understanding the requirement as the company had to have more than 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. Not consider this for each branch. Is this correct?

I had previously been told by my employer that I would be covered and even submitted my letter of intent- isn't this illegal to go back and now say I am not eligible?

Please Help!

 

[cbg]

Who is and is not eligible for FMLA is set by Federal law, not by the employer.

Unless your unnamed state has a more generous requirement, there have to be 50 employees within 75 miles of YOUR location or YOU are not eligible. Regardless of what may be the case for other employees of other locations of the same employer.

It is entirely possible for some employees of the same employer to be eligible for FMLA and not others.

 

[flgal417]

What about my employer saying i was eligible months ago and now all of a sudden im not? If I am not covered by the FMLA doesn't my employer have to offer some sort of maternity coverage?

 

[cbg]

Why don't you tell me what state you're in, first? State law can make a difference.

It would also help if I knew how many employees at your location, whether or not your employer is based in the same state you are in, and how close to you the next location is.

The employer is allowed to occasionally make mistakes. If you were told in error that you were eligible when you are not, that's a shame but it does not mean the employer is now bound to cover you anyway. As I said, eligibility for FMLA is set by law, not by the employer.

 

[flgal417]

I am located in Florida. The Company, however, is based in New Jersey. In New Jersey they absolutely have well over 50 employees within a 75 miles radius. We are the only location in Florida and we do not have 50 employees within a 75 mile radius.

When I read the eligibility rules of the FMLA it does not specify between state and/or location. It simply states that an employer must have 50 employees within a 75 mile radius; which they have.... in New Jersey.

 

[dee_dub]

The rules define "eligible employee" as someone who "is employed at a worksite where 50 or more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that worksite": http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.110.htm.

So it is location-specific.

 

[cbg]

You can debate this all you want but this is black letter law that is well established by the courts. Crying and whining is not going to do you any good. Unless there are 50 or more employees within 75 miles of YOUR location, you are not eligible for FMLA. Period. Whether other employees elsewhere in your organization are or not.

Florida has no state maternity leave laws and there is nothing in the law that requires employers to provide maternity coverage if FMLA does not apply. The only caveat is that since the employer has more than 15 employees overall (for the law I am now referring to, which is not FMLA, it IS overall employees, not location specific) they cannot offer you less time off than a similarly situated employee who has a non-maternity medical condition. If a similarly situated employee (that means one at more or less your level of responsibility, who has been there more or less the same length of time, and who is also not eligible for FMLA) would get two weeks off for a broken leg or pneumonia or back surgery, then you get two weeks off for maternity. If this hypothetical similarly situated employee would get six weeks off for that broken leg etc., then you get six weeks off for maternity. If they would get 12 weeks, you get 12 weeks. You get whatever they would get. They cannot offer you less time than they would get, but you are not entitled to any more. You get what they would get, whatever it is.