[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 29, Volume 3]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 29CFR825.210]



[Page 768-769]

 

                             TITLE 29--LABOR

 

         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

 

PART 825_THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993--Table of Contents

 

 Subpart B_What Leave Is an Employee Entitled To Take Under the Family 

                         and Medical Leave Act?

 

Sec.  825.210  How may employees on FMLA leave pay their share of group 

health benefit premiums?



    (a) Group health plan benefits must be maintained on the same basis 

as coverage would have been provided if the employee had been 

continuously employed during the FMLA leave period. Therefore, any share 

of group health plan premiums which had been paid by the employee prior 

to FMLA leave must continue to be paid by the employee during the FMLA 

leave period. If premiums are raised or lowered, the employee would be 

required to pay



[[Page 769]]



the new premium rates. Maintenance of health insurance policies which 

are not a part of the employer's group health plan, as described in 

Sec.  825.209(a)(1), are the sole responsibility of the employee. The 

employee and the insurer should make necessary arrangements for payment 

of premiums during periods of unpaid FMLA leave.

    (b) If the FMLA leave is substituted paid leave, the employee's 

share of premiums must be paid by the method normally used during any 

paid leave, presumably as a payroll deduction.

    (c) If FMLA leave is unpaid, the employer has a number of options 

for obtaining payment from the employee. The employer may require that 

payment be made to the employer or to the insurance carrier, but no 

additional charge may be added to the employee's premium payment for 

administrative expenses. The employer may require employees to pay their 

share of premium payments in any of the following ways:

    (1) Payment would be due at the same time as it would be made if by 

payroll deduction;

    (2) Payment would be due on the same schedule as payments are made 

under COBRA;

    (3) Payment would be prepaid pursuant to a cafeteria plan at the 

employee's option;

    (4) The employer's existing rules for payment by employees on 

``leave without pay'' would be followed, provided that such rules do not 

require prepayment (i.e., prior to the commencement of the leave) of the 

premiums that will become due during a period of unpaid FMLA leave or 

payment of higher premiums than if the employee had continued to work 

instead of taking leave; or,

    (5) Another system voluntarily agreed to between the employer and 

the employee, which may include prepayment of premiums (e.g., through 

increased payroll deductions when the need for the FMLA leave is 

foreseeable).

    (d) The employer must provide the employee with advance written 

notice of the terms and conditions under which these payments must be 

made. (See Sec.  825.301.)

    (e) An employer may not require more of an employee using FMLA leave 

than the employer requires of other employees on ``leave without pay.''

    (f) An employee who is receiving payments as a result of a workers' 

compensation injury must make arrangements with the employer for payment 

of group health plan benefits when simultaneously taking unpaid FMLA 

leave. See paragraph (c) of this section and Sec.  825.207(d)(2).



[60 FR 2237, Jan. 6, 1995; 60 FR 16383, Mar. 30, 1995]