North Carolina Employment Leave Laws

The Family Medical Leave Act applies to employers who regularly employ fifty employees within a seventy-five mile radius. An employee is subject to the protections of the Family Medical Leave Act if he or she has worked for twelve consecutive months and has worked more than 1250 hours during that twelve month period.

Leave may be taken all at once or on an intermittent basis (for instance, for several hours a week for ongoing medical treatment).

An employee may use leave for a serious illness of the employee or a family member, or, for the birth or adoption of a child.

An employer must keep the employee’s job, or a comparable position, for twelve weeks.

An employer can require that an employee use short term disability leave or workers’ compensation disability benefits at the same time as Family Medical Leave. An employer must give notice to the employee that Family Medical Leave is being exhausted at the same time as other leave benefits.