Family Medical Leave Act

It is the policy of the State of North Carolina to comply with all applicable federal and state regulations regarding the Family Medical Leave Act.

State Personnel Manual - Section 5 - Leave

The State Personnel Manual - Section 5 governs the State's policy on the Family Medical Leave Act.

With regard to benefits, the State Personnel Manual states that "the employee shall be reinstated without loss of benefits accrued when the leave began. All benefits accrue during any period of paid leave; however, no benefits will be accrued during any period of leave without pay."

With regard to health insurance, the State Personnel Manual states that "the State shall maintain coverage for the employee under the State's group health plan for the duration of leave at the level and under the conditions coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued employment. Any share of health plan premiums which an employee had paid prior to leave must continue to be paid by the employee during the leave period. The agency must give advance written notice to employees of the terms for payment of premiums during FMLA leave. The obligation to maintain health insurance coverage stops if an employee's premium payment is more than 30 days late. The agency shall provide 15 days notice that coverage will cease.  If the employee's failure to make the premium payments leads to a lapse in coverage, the agency must still restore the employee, upon return to work, to the health coverage equivalent to that which the employee would have had if leave had not been taken and the premium payments had not been missed without any waiting period or preexisting conditions."

It is the employing agency's responsibility to collect any insurance premium costs from the employee. Premiums received from the employee are deposited to the appropriate Health Benefits Payable Account, 2119304XX, and accounts payable payments to the insurance carrier are coded to the same account. Central Payroll has no responsibility for these payments.

Payments made to the insurance carrier are coded to the employee's medical insurance account as follows:

The employee's portion of the premium payment is deposited into the appropriate Health Benefits Clearing account, 2119304XX* and subsequent payments to the insurance carrier should also be coded to the clearing account.

Note:  4XX represents the Central Payroll System deduction code for the insurance carrier.

This policy applies to all State entities.

There are no exceptions to this policy.

There are no special terms for this policy.