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Alabama FMLA

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An employee works in Alabama but lives nearby in Georgia. I believe that Alabama has a state law guaranteeing 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, while Georgia only grants 12 weeks under the federal FMLA. Are they covered under the labor laws of Alabama or Georgia? Can this be appealed?

Your information is inaccurate. Alabama has no law guaranteeing 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.

What’s more, Alabama, just like Georgia, has no labor law guaranteeing 16 weeks of leave. Like Georgia, it’s covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, or the FMLA described in your question. Under the FMLA, employees, either men or women are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn.

Some states do have their own labor laws. In that case, the state labor law applies to every employer in the state, no matter where the employees may live. Employees could commute from California to work in New York and be covered by New York labor law, for example.

This could work against an employee as well. Let’s take the second question – can this be appealed? Assume that employee “Jane” lives in California and works in Arizona. California has generous labor laws, including a good state-mandated break-time law. She would like that break-law to apply to her while she works in Arizona. Could she successfully appeal to be covered by California labor law on the grounds that she lives there? No.

It’s simple. The business is located in Arizona. Labor laws apply to the businesses that are operating within their borders, regardless of where the employees may live. While those employees are at work, they are covered by the labor laws governing their workplace.

The FMLA applies to any company with 50 or more workers within 75 miles of the workplace. Employees must have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours during the past 12 months in order to qualify for the leave time. FMLA leave is unpaid, but it is job-protected. The employee is guaranteed the same job or another one with similar pay, benefits, and working conditions upon returning from the leave.

Besides maternity leave, a worker may take FMLA to care for a newly adopted child or a new foster child under 18 years old. The leave may also be used by an employee who is seriously ill, or to care for a member of the immediate family suffering from a serious illness.  JH