Family Leave (FMLA) in Indiana (IN)

Federal FMLA

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) generally requires private employers with 50 or more employees to provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for certain family and medical reasons. Those reasons include the birth and care of a newborn child or placement of an adopted or foster child with an employee, as well as leave to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition or when an employee is unable to work because of the employee’s own serious health condition (including incapacity due to pregnancy).

Employees are eligible for federal FMLA leave if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Employers subject to FMLA are required to maintain group health insurance coverage for an employee on FMLA leave on the same terms as if the employee continued to work. Upon return from FMLA leave, an employee generally must be restored to the employee’s original position or an equivalent position identical to the original in terms of pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions.

Many states also have laws requiring that employers grant certain employees leave from work due to specified family, medical, or other circumstances.

Indiana Family and Medical Leave

Indiana currently has no comprehensive family and medical leave law requiring private employers to provide leave rights greater than those required by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Indiana Military Family Leave

Indiana’s military family leave law generally applies to employers with at least 50 employees. Under the law, employers must grant eligible employees up to 10 days of unpaid leave per calendar year during one or more of the following periods:

• During the 30 days before active duty orders are in effect
• During a period in which the person ordered to active duty is on leave while active duty orders are in effect
• During the 30 days after the active duty orders are terminated

An eligible employee is an employee who:

• Has been employed by an employer for at least 12 months;
• Has worked at least 1,500 hours during the 12 month period immediately preceding the day the leave begins; and
• Is the spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or sibling of a person who is ordered to active duty (full-time service on active duty orders in the U.S. Armed Forces or the National Guard for a period that exceeds 89 consecutive calendar days).

An eligible employee may elect, or an employer may require the employee, to substitute any earned paid vacation leave, personal leave, or other paid leave, except for paid medical or sick leave, available to the employee for any part of the 10 day period of military family leave.

An employee must provide at least 30 days’ notice before the date on which he or she intends to begin the leave, unless the active duty orders are issued less than 30 days before the date the requested leave is to begin. The employer may require verification of eligibility for the leave.

Upon return from leave, an employee generally must be restored to the position held before the leave or an equivalent position with equivalent seniority, pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.

For more information on Indiana's military family leave law, please click here.