Benefit Leave Time

MMSD employees are eligible for several types of Leaves of Absence as specified in Sections 10 and 12 through 14 of the Employee Handbook. Any employee absence that exceeds five consecutive days, other than Bereavement Leave, requires a District-approved Leave of Absence. Requests for a District-approved Leave of Absence must be approved by Human Resources. Click here to submit a request for a District-approved Leave of Absence.

Approval of a Leave of Absence is approval to be absent from a District position without loss of employment. Approval does not provide income during a Leave of Absence. See Income While on a Leave of Absence section for information on the sources of income that might be available to employees on an approved medical Leave of Absence.

MMSD’s Leaves of Absence benefits are administered in accordance with federal and state laws and the MMSD Employee Handbook. The information below is provided for information only.

Accordion

Family Medical Leave (FMLA)

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave is a type of Leave of Absence that falls under either the federal Family Medical Leave Act or the Wisconsin Family Medical Leave Act. Both the Federal and Wisconsin FMLA laws provide job and insurance protection when taking a Leave of Absence to care for yourself or a family member, but the eligibility and benefits vary. While on a Leave of Absence protected by either federal or Wisconsin FMLA, your job is protected and MMSD’s contributions to your insurance benefits are protected.

FMLA Eligibility

Eligible employees are those employees who have worked for MMSD for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 qualifying hours (federal FMLA) or 1,000 qualifying hours (Wisconsin FMLA) in the 52 weeks immediately preceding their Leave of Absence.

Wisconsin FMLA and Federal FMLA run concurrently. An employee may be approved for Wisconsin FMLA but not Federal FMLA due to their employment status and/or hours worked.

FMLA Duration

FMLA eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for qualifying family and/or medical situations per calendar year, as provided by either the federal or state FMLA laws. Upon returning from leave, the employee is entitled to be restored to the employee’s original position, or to an equivalent position with equivalent pay, benefits, duties, and responsibilities.

Under Wisconsin FMLA, employees are entitled to the following in a calendar year:
- 6 weeks of leave for the birth/adoption of a child,
- 2 weeks of leave for the care of a child, spouse/domestic partner or parent, and
- 2 weeks of leave for the employee’s own serious medical condition.
Under Federal FMLA, employees are entitled to up to a total of 12 weeks leave in a calendar year for the following:
- Birth/adoption of a child, and/or
- To care for a child with a serious medical condition if the child is under 18 years of age or a dependent child over 18 years of age incapable of self-care due to a mental or physical disability, and/or
- To care for a spouse or parent with serious medical condition, and/or
- The employee’s own serious medical condition, and/or
- A qualifying exigency for the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin; or
- Up to 26 weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if they are the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin.
FMLA covers block-of-time, intermittent, and reduced schedule absences throughout the year that meet the above criteria.

All medical Leaves of Absence, including FMLA leave, must be supported with appropriate medical documentation from an employee’s health care provider. See medical documentation forms to the right.

Non-FMLA Medical Leave

Section 12.2 of the Handbook allows employees to take up to two years for a medical Leave of Absence. Such Leaves of Absence runs concurrently with an FMLA Leave of Absence if eligible.

If the Leave of Absence is one year or less, the employee will retain their right to return to the position they held at the time the Leave began.
If the Leave of Absence is more than one year but less than two years, when the employee returns, they are placed in the next vacant position for which they are qualified. If there is no vacant position at the time the employee is allowed to return to work, the employee has the option to be assigned to a substitute position or go into layoff status, as specified in the Handbook.
If the employee does not return to work within two years of being on a medical Leave of Absence, the employee is separated from MMSD employment.

Child Rearing Leave

Section 14.1 of the Handbook provides employees with at least 12 consecutive months of employment up to 12 consecutive months of Child-Rearing Leave to care for a child under school-age. Only one period of Child-Rearing Leave is allowed per child.

A request for Child-Rearing Leave must be submitted at least 90 days in advance unless the employee is unable to provide such notice due to medical reasons or in the case of an adoption, the employee is unable to provide such advance notice due to the placement requirements of the adoption process.

Other Unpaid Leave

Under Section 14.2 of the Handbook, employees with at least 12 consecutive months of employment may request a Leave of Absence for other purposes, but such applications will be reviewed and granted or denied at the sole discretion of the District. Other Unpaid Leaves of Absence are limited to one calendar year.

Requests for Other Unpaid Leaves of Absence must be submitted to Human Resources at least 30 days in advance, other than for emergencies. Employees must have worked for MMSD for at least one year to be considered for Other Unpaid Leaves of Absence.

Income While on a Leave of Absence

Approval of a Leave of Absence is approval to be absent from a District position without loss of employment. Approval does not provide pay during the Leave of Absence. However, employees on an approved medical Leave of Absence from their District position may be eligible for the following sources of income under certain circumstances.

Accrued Paid Time Off

Employees accrue paid time off differently based on their employment category. See employee benefit summaries for information on how paid time off is accrued. Section 12.2 of the Handbook required that while on a medical Leave of Absence (either FMLA or non-FMLA), employees are required to exhaust their before taking unpaid time off.

Generally, employees using accrued paid time off while on an approved Leave of Absence will continue to accrue paid time off. Personal Illness accrued during a Leave of Absence is not available for use until after you return to work.Employees on an unpaid Leave of Absence do not accrue paid time off.

Teacher Sick Leave Bank

Employees in the Teacher Group may request the use of the Teacher Sick Leave Bank to continue their rate of pay for medical leaves of absences that are expected to exceed 11 work days.

To be eligible for use of the Teacher Sick Leave Bank, an employee must first have exhausted their available personal illness and vacation balances or used at least 55 accrued personal illness days.

Use of the Teacher Sick Leave Bank is limited to 44 days for an employee’s own medical condition or up to ten work days for a family member’s medical condition.

See Section 10.3 of Appendix A of the Employee Handbook for more details about use of the Teacher Sick Leave Bank.

Short-Term Disability Insurance

Benefits-eligible employees that voluntarily enroll in and pay for Short-Term Disability Insurance may be eligible to receive short-term disability payments equal to two-thirds of their prior MMSD income if they are unable to work due to a medical disability, including pregnancy and recovery from child birth.

Employees in the Teacher Group are not eligible for short-term disability insurance since they are eligible for the Teacher Sick Leave Bank.

Employees on an approved Leave of Absence are responsible for filing a claim to receive short-term disability payments.

To learn more about short-term disability insurance or how to file a claim, visit MMSD’s disability insurance webpage.

If you are not currently enrolled in Short-Term Disability Insurance but would like to enroll, contact Benefits at Benefits@madison.k12.wi.us.

Long-Term Disability Insurance

All benefits-eligible employees are automatically enrolled in Long-Term Disability Insurance, which provides income while out of work for at least 75 calendar days due to a disability.

Employees that are medically separated from the District can continue to receive LTD benefits until 65 years of age as long as they continue to meet the definition of disability.

Employees on an approved Leave of Absence are responsible for filing a claim to receive long-term disability payments. To learn more about long-term disability insurance or how to file a claim, visit MMSD’s disability insurance webpage.

Insurance Benefits While on a Leave of Absence

Generally, employees on a Leave of Absence may continue their health, dental, vision, life, short-term disability, long-term disability, long-term care insurance and flexible spending account (FSA) benefits but are responsible for 100% of the premium except as noted below for employees on an FMLA Leave of Absence.

Required premium payments will be deducted from an employee’s paycheck when a paycheck is available. When a paycheck is not available, the employee must pay the required premium via personal check made payable to MMSD. Failure to pay any required premium timely could result in insurance coverage being cancelled.

Insurance Benefits under FMLA

While on FMLA, the District’s financial contribution to health, dental, basic life, and long-term disability insurance benefits continues the same as before the Leave of Absence.

However, employees must continue to contribute their portion of insurance premiums for health, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life, short-term disability, long-term care, or FSA for benefits to continue. Failure to pay the employee share of insurance benefits timely could result in insurance benefits being cancelled.

Requests for a Leave of Absence

Employee absences that are five consecutive days or less or on Bereavement Leave are subject to their normal absence reporting procedures as specified by their supervisor.

Any absence expected to exceed five consecutive days, other than Bereavement Leave under Section 11 of the Handbook, requires a District-approved Leave of Absence. Requests for a District-approved Leave of Absence must be approved by Human Resources. Click here to submit a request for a District-approved Leave of Absence.

Important considerations when requesting a Leave of Absence:

A request for a Leave of Absence should be submitted to Human Resources as soon as possible prior to the start of the leave.
Retroactive Leave requests are considered only when prior submission was not possible. Approval for retroactive Leave requests is limited to a maximum of 30 days back-dated from the day the request is submitted to Human Resources.
Requests for a medical Leave of Absence will require supporting medical documentation from an employee or family member’s health care provider. These forms are available on the right.
Employees that have submitted a request for a Leave of Absence that is pending approval from Human Resources are required to follow their normal absence reporting procedures as specified by their supervisor while the request is pending approval from Human Resources.
Medical Leave of Absence requests for an ongoing condition expire at the end of the calendar year. To renew an intermittent medical Leave of Absence for a new calendar year, submit a new Leave of Absence request here.
Employees returning from a medical Leave of Absence are required to submit Fitness for Duty Form completed by their health care provider before returning to work. See Forms to the right.

Reasonable Accommodations

Employees returning to work from a medical Leave of Absence and requiring a Reasonable Accommodation for their essential job functions, may request a Reasonable Accommodation here.