The village shall maintain the employee’s health and dental coverages for the duration of a FMLA leave. Premium payments for medical and dental insurance that are normally the responsibility of the employee shall continue to be paid by him or her through payroll deduction, regardless of whether the employee has accrued paid leave time to cover all or part of the FMLA leave the village will continue to pay its share of the employee’s monthly premiums that it would otherwise pay if the employee were on paid leave status or otherwise present for duty.
(A) If a FMLA leave request is foreseeable, the employee must make arrangements with the Village Mayor, Fiscal Officer, and the BPA if appropriate at the time of requesting FMLA leave as to a payment schedule, or payroll deduction, to cover his or her share of the medical and dental insurance premiums coming due during the requested period of FMLA leave. If the need for leave is unforeseeable, such arrangements must be made with the Village Mayor, Fiscal Officer, and the BPA if appropriate no later than 35 days after commencement of the FMLA leave period.
(B) If an employee on FMLA leave fails to submit any required premium to the village within 30 calendar days of the date the premium is due, the village may discontinue health and dental insurance for such employee. If the village chooses to discontinue coverage as a result of non-payment of premium(s) after the 30-day grace period, the employee’s health and dental benefits will be restored upon the employee’s return to work at the same level and terms as were provided when leave commenced.
(C) If an employee fails to return to work after expiration of such employee’s FMLA leave entitlement, the village may recover premiums it paid for maintaining group health and dental plan coverages during the FMLA leave period, unless the reason the employee fails to return to work is either:
(1) The continuation, recurrence, or onset of a serious health condition; or
(2) Other circumstances beyond the employee’s control. The validity of “circumstances beyond the employee’s control” will be judged by the village of a case-by-case basis.
(D) Whenever an employee fails to return from FMLA leave due to “the continuation, recurrence, or onset” of a serious health condition, such employee must submit medical certification of the serious health condition to the village. If such an employee fails to furnish the required certification within 30 days, the village may recover the health and dental insurance premiums it paid on such employee’s behalf during the FMLA leave period.
(E) Upon return from a FMLA leave the employee shall be restored to the same position that the employee held when the leave started, if available, or if such position is unavailable, to an equivalent position with equivalent benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.
(Ord. 1447, passed 10-20-2009; Ord. 1473, passed 12-7-2010; Ord. passed 1-1-2019)