family and medical leave act (FMLA)

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you’re eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off during a rolling 12-month period for any of these reasons: 

• The birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care
• To bond with a child (FMLA must be used within 12 months of the child’s birth or placement)
• To care for an immediate family member (spouse, parent or child under age 18) with a serious health condition
• For medical reasons when you’re unable to work because of your own serious health condition
• Any qualifying exigency related to your spouse’s, parent’s or child’s active military duty 

For complete details, refer to these Family and Medical Leave Act Rights and Obligations.

You may be eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA-protected leave for any qualifying exigency if you have a spouse, child or parent in the U.S. Armed Forces who is deployed or called to active duty to a foreign country. 

Qualifying exigency could include any of the following: 

• Attending certain counseling sessions
• Attending military events and related activities
• Making or updating certain financial and legal arrangements
• Arranging for alternative child care and attending certain school activities
• Spending up to 15 calendar days with a military member on Rest and Recuperation leave
• Addressing issues arising from short-notice deployment (that’s within seven days or less)
• Attending post-deployment activities, such as reintegration briefings

In addition, you may take up to 26 weeks of FMLA-protected military caregiver leave to care for a covered service member or recent veteran with a serious injury or illness that was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.  

Here are some additional things you should keep in mind as it relates to an FMLA leave: 

• An FMLA absence is unpaid, but it could run concurrently with an accrued paid leave, such as Short-Term Disability (STD), vacation, bonding or family care benefits, or other similar state or local family leave entitlements.
• Under some circumstances, you could take an FMLA absence on an intermittent basis (taken in separate blocks of time for a qualifying reason) or on a reduced leave schedule (reduces the usual number of working hours per workweek or hours per workday). If an FMLA absence is for the birth, adoption, or placement for adoption or foster case of a child, the use of an intermittent or reduced leave schedule requires Chevron approval.
• When you take a leave that’s covered by law, Chevron is required to continue your group health coverage as if you were still working. This means you have to continue to pay your share of health care premiums for the duration of your absence. Contact the HR Service Center (choose the option for Benefits, then Health Benefits) to learn more about how your benefits are affected when you are on leave.
• Although FMLA provides job protection, it’s important to know that you have no greater right to reinstatement of your job or benefits than if you had been working consistently during your absence. This means that, in the event of a layoff during an FMLA-protected absence, you have no greater protection than any other employee and that you are subject to the possibility of layoff. 

You may learn more generally about FMLA by visiting the U.S. Department of Labor’s FMLA website. 

Eligible U.S.-payroll employees have access to several kinds of leaves of absences, including Chevron Family Leave.

Although Chevron Family Leave is similar to FMLA in that it offers job protection, it’s different in that it provides more time off for family reasons than the federal law and includes a broader definition of a family member. In some instances, an FMLA absence and Chevron Family Leave could run concurrently. 

This at-a-glance chart provides a high-level overview of FMLA, Chevron Family Leave and several state laws that could apply to time off.